


A Crimson Flower Within the Dark

by GintaxAlvissforever, RisingSonic17



Series: Three Houses/Edelgard Arc [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Super Smash Brothers, Xenoblade Chronicles, 光神話 | Kid Icarus (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Assault, Attempted Murder, Betrayal, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Decapitation, Drama, Edelgard gets what she deserves, Established Relationship, F/M, Feral Behavior, Feral Edelgard von Hresvelg, Feral My Unit | Byleth, Head Injury, Heartbreak, Identity Reveal, Lies, M/M, Multi, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Polyamory, Revenge, Secrets, Some Humor, Suspense, The Sword of the Creator Goes SLICE, Yandere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:49:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28544334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GintaxAlvissforever/pseuds/GintaxAlvissforever, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisingSonic17/pseuds/RisingSonic17
Summary: Edelgard is ready to enact her long awaited plan to take down the Church of Seiros and the Gods who wronged her and lied to the people of the Smash Realm. She vows to rid the world of Gods no matter what, even if it meant losing everything she once had.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth/Bernadetta von Varley, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan, Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/Bernadetta von Varley, Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/My Unit | Byleth, Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan/Bernadetta von Varley
Series: Three Houses/Edelgard Arc [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139243
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Years. I can't get my schedule to fix itself so I'm behind on like every fanfic imaginable. I have classes starting this week, I still gotta work and I bought Trail of Cold Steel 1 and wanting to write in the fandom knowing its sacred. ;v; But when it comes to RisingSonic, I refuse to let him down hence why I will work with him on this fic without complaints. I only do half the scenes mainly involving Claude and most of the students. 
> 
> Since this is the last fic for the 3 houses arc, gonna pull all the stops.

_I am Edelgard von Hresvelg, future Emperor of the Adrestian Empire. I came to the Garreg Mach Monastery Officer's Academy with a goal. To bring down the crest system that has plagued Fodlan for decades. To allow the people to be equal and not have their fates determined by Gods. However, my plans had to be put on hold. Due to some strange anomaly, I had been summoned to this strange realm. Not only me, but the other students in Garreg Mach and the Church of Seiros. My plans had to be put on hold unfortunately. I actually enjoyed the Smash Realm when I first arrived. Meeting so many different beings from other universes, living together as one. I was told that everyone here was treated as equal. Commoners, animals, Gods. It didn't matter. Everyone was treated equally. So I was told…_

_I quickly learned that it was all a lie. A lie for us mortals to blindly believe without question. Just like the preachings of the Progenitor God, Sothis. There was no equality in this realm. Gods are given more reason to do and treat others as they please with no repercussions. That cursed woman...Palutena. She has humiliated and made a mockery out of me. I hate her. Her and all the other Gods. I thought Shulk would be different, but he's just as corrupt as the rest of them. No more. No more would I allow Gods to treat us as their play things. That day, I made my promise to enact my plans in this realm._

_Despite all I've done up to this point. Doubt was still on my mind because of my professor, Byleth. My professor… No. He's not my professor. I was not the one he chose. He had chosen to be with Claude. Why Byleth? Why did you choose a deceptive coward like Claude? Why did you refuse to walk the path of the Empire? This path...with me. Now you're engaged to not only Claude, but to Yuri and Bernadetta as well._

_My heart...it aches. But...I must not let my heart sway my decisions. I will not. I must do what I have to. No matter the costs. I will not let anything get in the way of my goal._

"Edelgard!" Arundel calls his niece, breaking her from her thoughts. Standing beside Arundel are his two subordinates Solon and Kronya. "Everything is set for tomorrow's invasion. At the edge of dawn, we will storm the mansion and slaughter everyone. Not only will the Goddess and the Church of Seiros fall, but you will also have your revenge on the Goddess that made a fool out of you. Doesn't that make you happy?" He grinned evilly.

"Yes." Edelgard spoke in a blunt tone. She turns to her uncle. "We may run into some problems during our invasion. Do you have a back up plan?" She questions.

"Of course. We have javelins of light ready to nuke everyone if things become a problem. They will not survive."

Edelgard nods. "Then we are set. Tomorrow, we change the world. In the image I see fit to rule this realm."

Arundel nods. "Of course." He smirked.

"You sound so confident that all will go well tomorrow." A female voice says. Coming out from the shadows towards the group is Cornelia. "I have no doubt that you have the abilities to achieve your goals, but try not to let it get to your head." She teases. "Those two professors proved to be formidable warriors against us. Aren't you concerned?"

Arundel shakes his head. "We have armies of hundreds upon hundreds of us here in this realm. Two incompetent professors and their weakling students stand no chance against us. Even with the Progenitor God by their side. Along with our javelins, their fates have been decided no matter how hard they fight. They cannot win."

Kronya who is twirling around her dagger Athame lets out a laugh. "I'm just itching to slaughter more worms. I can't wait to see the look on those professors' faces when they see their daddy's killer is here." She taunted.

"Are you going to be joining us in our invasion Cornelia?" Solon asks.

"Oh no. I shall stay back. You have everything all planned out already. What help would I be out there? I will leave all the heavy lifting to you my lord." Cornelia bows to Arundel.

"Very well." Arundel replies. He turns to Edelgard. "Go return to the mansion before you are questioned about your whereabouts."

Edelgard nods. "We will meet again later." She says. Edelgard begins to leave the secret underground base that Those Who Slithers in the Dark resided in to keep their presence hidden.

Once Edelgard had left, Arundel turned to Solon and Kronya. "As we wait on tomorrow, how about we give this realm a taste of what is to come? The Death Knight has been itching to sink his scythe into some flesh. How about we grant him his wish and send him off to the city?" He grinned evilly.

* * *

The Smash Mansion as a whole was completely unaware of the violence and brutality that would be unleashed on them and New Smash City. This was probably for the best. In order to stop a tragedy from taking complete control, one must be calm and prepare for it.

The Gods should be the one that was most aware of the heavy feeling in the air. Unfortunately, Shulk seemed to ignore the tension in favor of doing his research. The Homs managed to convince Byleth to loan him the Sword of the Creator. Shulk had wanted to study it for a while now and this was a perfect opportunity for him. No Smash battles to do, no dates to forget, and it was rather peaceful today.

Shulk could have asked Beth to loan him the sword, but he noticed immediately that her sword wasn't the original. The Homs learned that Beth never had the Sword of the Creator to begin with and only when she entered the Smash Realm was she suddenly given a replica of one. It must have been the work of Master Hand to allow it. The same applied to the dragon twins having two Yatos.

When given the proper equipment by the mansion, Shulk could figure out the origins of a weapon relatively easily. He just needed to place the Sword of the Creator down on a pedestal made by Ether crystals from the Bionis. With some God magic, he could analyze the data in a few hours so as long as he could identify the materials used.

Shulk assumed the Sword of the Creator was made by some strong metal that originated from Fodlan and was lost to time. He noticed that some of the students that Byleth was watching over had similar weapons made from the same material. Those weapons weren't that pleasant to look at in comparison. Not all the students had their Relic Weapons with them either and the ones given to Byleth and Beth are also replicas of the original (seeing as how they were weaker than the original and that meant they wouldn't break that easily). Hilda's weapon Freikugel looks like it has an eyeball in the center of her axe. Sylvain's weapon, Lance of Ruin, also has a red orb near the top of the spear. Shulk wasn't an eavesdropper by no means, but hearing Sylvain having a conversation with Rob about his weapon and the wariness that the weapon watches him in his sleep didn't leave a good impression of said weapon. And then there was Ingrid's Luin and the Thyrsus staff. Luin looked identical to the Lance of Ruin except it lacked the spiked. It still had that red orb in a similar location, but Shulk wasn't going to get as much info with that. Meanwhile, there was no chance the Homs would be able to get Thyrsus staff if the two wielders of said staff could bother to share it with anyone else. Thyrsus was a horrifying staff to look at. Knowing that the staff allows for the wielder to hit from a longer distance made it a deadly relic like the others.

Shulk wanted to know about the other relic weapons the others had, but he didn't have that much luck. He was never going to be able to get close to Catherine without setting her off (and Alvis warned him that he had to stop being insensitive). The three lords all had their weapons back in the care of their relatives back in Fodlan, leaving Shulk to only imagine the power they truly wield. The same applied to Annette when he asked her if she had one. Shulk had a hard time picturing how a hammer could be added to this list of wicked looking weapons. When Shulk tried to approach Felix, he got forced into a sword duel. It surprised the blond that Felix didn't have a sword as a Hero Relic but a shield. A really big and pretty shield that was rather large for someone as tiny as Felix. By being blunt about his opinion, Shulk ended up in the infirmary. Godhood be damned.

Byleth was always the safe option, but Shulk had to go through everyone else before he got to the professor himself.

"Okay, the analysis is almost done" Shulk tells himself. "I'll have the results soon and the sword back to its rightful owner."

" _ **Shulk, I truly believe you could have avoided death threats and injuries had you just gone to Byleth in the first place,"**_ Alvis couldn't help but snark. _**"You may be a God, but you enjoy taking a beating."**_

The Homs had no counterargument. He continued to stare at the sword before him. The screen above the machine continued to decipher the weapon until it identified the material.

"Huh? Bones?" Shulk asked out loud, completely ignoring Alvis' comment. "These weapons aren't that fragile looking, but bones?"

Alvis decided to look at the screen once he accepted Shulk wouldn't answer his question. He scowled at the information. _**"I see."  
**_

"See what?"

_**"It appears that this sword was made with the spine of a dragon."** _

"I don't see the problem with that," Shulk states. "We Homs will use whatever is needed to make weapons. We did that when we were fighting the Mechon, so…"

The machine was still scanning. Normally, Alvis wouldn't be affected by something like this, but he felt something divine coming from this weapon in particular.

" _ **It is true. Using the corpse of a dragon to make weapons wouldn't be odd to the Homs. However, it appears that this weapon was made from the corpse of the Progenitor God."**_

Now Shulk understood why Alvis was disturbed. His eyes widened in horror. "W-Wait. So this weapon is basically Sothis' spine?! D-Does that mean the little girl that is hanging with Byleth…"

_**"The Smash Realm has shown us that anything is possible. If her bones were needed to make the weapon, then I believe that the other weapons were also made by the bones of relatives of Sothis."** _

"I…"

Shulk suddenly felt sick to his stomach. As an engineer, discoveries like this shouldn't bother him. Sothis was still a Goddess and even if she wasn't an official member to be added to the God Trio as Palutena dubbed it. Knowing that she was killed, her corpse desecrated and made into a fancy sword like this made Shulk want to run to the tiny Goddess and embrace her.

" _ **It appears that Sothis doesn't remember how she died,"**_ Alvis started to explain. _**"Perhaps it is better to keep that information to ourselves. Although, I believe that Lady Rhea is aware of the situation."**_

The God of Fate hated keeping secrets to himself. He knows some things are best left unsaid, but he believed it wouldn't be fair for someone like Sothis to be left in the dark about her past.

Shulk wouldn't be able to continue analyzing the Sword of the Creator. A knock on his lab door made the blond realize it was time for the sword to go back into Byleth's hands.

"The door's open!" Shulk shouted. He expected Byleth to be the one to pick it up, but on the other side of the door was his sister Beth and the Prince of Fareghus Dimitri. "Oh!"

"Heya." Beth greeted. "I came to pick up my brother's sword. He got called by Rhea and asked me to pick up the sword for him, so here I am. And I brought my boyfriend with me." She pointed to Dimitri with a grin on her face.

Dimitri blushed at the title. "T-There's no need to be open about that…"

Only Beth was able to see that Alvis was hovering behind Shulk. Dimitri had no idea that there was another person in the room.

"You're just in time. I just finished scanning the Sword of the Creator. I learned so much about it already." Shulk says.

"Is that going to be used against us in Smash?" Beth asked. She asked him this before during tea time, but she wanted to make sure he's not getting the upper hand.

"Oh, no! I just like researching weapons from different realms. Every weapon has a story to it, and I can't stop learning. I may have the Monado, but it's still nice to hold other weapons."

"And what did you learn about the Sword of the Creator?" Dimitri questions.

Shulk's eyes widened. He needed to take Alvis' advice, but he caved in rather easily.

"Well, the Sword of the Creator...and by proxy the other Hero Relics are made from the bones of dragons."

Beth and Dimitri failed to understand the chance in Shulk's demeanor at that. Perhaps Beth would understand if she spoke to Sothis about it. In the pit of her stomach, she had a bad feeling about this information Shulk casually gave out.

"This sword in particular is the spine of a dragon. I like to think that the orbs that are placed inside most of the weapons are dragon hearts. They say some dragons don't die even when their body is physically destroyed. As long as the heart is around, they might live on forever."

"Oh, so my brother is swinging around the spine of a dead dragon. Lovely." Beth says sarcastically. "Normally, I would ask for more details, but I'm certain my brother would like to know more. So I'll be taking the sword now."

 _ **"It would have been easier to admit that you weren't interested in listening to Shulk for hours."**_ Alvis says sarcastically. Beth immediately glares at him, but to Dimitri, it looked like she was giving the evil eye to the Homs.

The Homs surrendered the sword back to Beth and thanked her again. Now that he had something to work on, he would be doing more research on the topic. As Beth and Dimitri left the lab, Beth turned her head toward Alvis and stuck her tongue out before hurrying after the leader of the Blue Lions.

"Shulk is a very interesting individual. He reminds me a lot of Linhardt with how much extensive research he enjoys to do." Dimitri comments.

"Oh yeah. Nice guy. A bit naive despite how smart he can be. He means well. The nicest God you'll ever meet." Beth says.

"Hard to believe that he is a God. Although, I didn't believe that the Goddess would be a little girl." Dimitri jokes. He then starts to get nervous, remembering that Byleth and Beth shared a connection with Sothis. He was afraid that she may have heard him. "P-Please don't tell Sothis I said such things about her." He worriedly tells Beth.

Beth giggles. "Don't worry. Sothis spends most of her time with Byleth. She won't know."

Not paying attention to their surroundings, Beth and Dimitri bump into Bernadetta. The introvert student looks up at Beth. She felt her heart pounding with anxiety.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Bernadetta screamed.

Beth puts her hands up. "Hey! Hey! Settle down Bernie! It's just me Beth!" The female professor tried to calm the young girl down.

"I know it's you! T-That's why I'm freaking out! You're scary!" Bernadetta slowly stepped back.

"Scary? Beth? She's one of the most easy going people to speak with. It was much easier to approach her than Byleth. That stoic looked he always had on his face is bone chilling." Dimitri says.

Bernadetta shakes her head. "B-Byleth is nice. He may look scary at first, but he's actually really kind and sweet. He's like a big teddy bear that protects people." The purple haired girl hugs herself, warmfully thinking about her husband She points to Beth. "You relish in the enjoyment of killing people. You sometimes do it in the most gruesome ways with your bare hands. Y-You're like some sort of deranged k-killer!"

Beth felt offended hearing this. She shakes her head. "Wait a minute Bernadetta. You're thinking about this all wrong. I only kill bad people. I enjoy it because bad people don't belong in the world, and it feels good getting rid of them. I would never harm innocent people."

"S-So...if I was on the enemy side...you would kill me in the most gruesome way possible?! Smash my head in?! Rip off my body parts?! Tear off my skin?! Eat my heart?! Gah! No! Stay away from me! Don't kill me! You're a monster!" Bernadetta freaks out. She turns around and runs away frantically.

Beth extends her hand. "Bernie! Wait!" She calls out to the introvert, but Bernadetta is already far gone. Beth sighs sadly and lowers her head. "Damn it."

"Are you okay?" Dimitri asks his girlfriend.

Beth shakes her head. "I'm not Dimitri." She growls in annoyance. "I don't know what to do! All I want to do is bond with my future sister in law, but she's not making it easy for me. I know that's just how she can be, but it's frustrating. I just want to befriend her, but I'm nothing but a monster and a merciless killer as she refers to me as." Beth frowns. "Is that how people see me and I just haven't noticed?" She pondered.

Dimitri places his hand on Beth's shoulder. "You are not a monster Beth. Most of the students adore you very much. Especially the Blue Lions. Mercedes and Annette see you as a very valuable friend. Felix thinks you are an amazing training partner and warrior. Ashe talks about your bravery nonstop and Dedue acknowledges your strengths. And Sylvain, well you know how Sylvain can be." The Prince of Faerghus holds on to Beth's hand. "I...love you very much Beth." He began to blush. "You are my beloved. I hope my words are enough to comfort you."

Beth gives Dimitri a warm smile. She places her hand on Dimitri's cheek and gives him a kiss on the lips. "You being with me is good enough my prince. I'll be fine as long as I have you."

Dimitri smiles back at Beth. "Anything for you, beloved."

Beth looks down at a certain dagger that was hanging on the side of Dimitri's belt. "By the way, I never asked you about that dagger. Remember, when we saw the Flame Emperor with that man and Monica." The mention of her father's killer made the blue haired professor cringe.

Dimitri unhooks the dagger from his belt and solemnly looks at it. "It's not much to think about. The dagger just looks similar to the dagger I gave Edelgard when we were just children. It scarily crossed my mind that maybe… Maybe Edelgard might be…" The young prince shakes his head. "No. It couldn't be. I must be going crazy. El. She would never…"

Beth just kept quiet as Dimitri looked away in silence. Things were starting to click to her. That Edelgard and the Flame Emperor are connected. Dimitri probably knew it in his heart, but he didn't want to believe it. Beth had a feeling that if she mentioned such a suggestion, he might snap. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself. She knew one thing though.

" _You're behind this. Behind it all."_ Beth said to herself, clenching her fist in anger.

* * *

**Infirmary Room**

Palutena and Pit are sitting in the infirmary watching Manuela and Takemi do their daily check up on Dark Pit. The dark angel has not woken up from his coma yet. Palutena and Pit have been coming to the infirmary every day to check up on Dark Pit ever since he got admitted to the infirmary. The Goddess of Light still felt responsible for Dark Pit getting put into that coma. She doesn't go a day without thinking about how she could have prevented it all. But she also knows that she was not responsible for Dark Pit's coma. It was Hubert who activated Galleom. It still pissed her off that Hubert still had his head still attached to his body because Shulk prevented her from killing him.

Pit wasn't sure what to think. He did dislike Hubert for activating Galleom and putting his twin in a coma along with making him suffer from amnesia. At the same time though, he wasn't sure of the intention of Hubert. Although, the dark mage activating the very same robot that tried to kill everyone in the past was definitely not a good look.

Byleth comes into the living room with Yuri beside them. "Lady Palutena. Pit. Hello to you both." He bows to the two smashers.

"Hello Byleth." Palutena waves. She looks at Yuri. "Is that your husband?" She asks.

Byleth nods. "Yes. This is Yuri. He's one of the three people I'm engaged to. Yuri, this is Palutena. The Goddess of Light."

"I never thought I'd be standing face to face with a Goddess. Not even the one in Byleth's head bothers to speak to me. Anyways, pleasure to meet you. I'm Byleth's favorite husband." Yuri grinned. Claude wasn't around, so the Ashen Wolves leader could brag all he wanted about being the better suitor for Byleth.

Byleth looks to Dark Pit. "How is he?" He asks Palutena.

"Alive. Healthy. Still not awake." Palutena answers bluntly. "I doubt you came here to check on him because this is the first time you've set foot in here. So what do you want?"

Byleth was a bit surprised that Palutena easily saw through him, but he wastes no time explaining why he's really in the infirmary. "That day when you assaulted Hubert. You said that he was responsible for putting Dark Pit in a coma. What did Hubert have to do with that?"

"There was this giant robot that we fought and destroyed back during the Subspace War. Unknown to us, that robot got rebuilt. And that lapdog Hubert revived him…" Palutena growled as she tightened her fist.

"Lady Palutena. Your anger. Everyone is already afraid of you after what you did to that Hubert guy." Pit comments.

"And they should!" Palutena says sternly. The Goddess stands up from her seat and turns to Byleth. "Listen Byleth, I like you. I like your sister too. Sothis is a nagging grandmother, but I'm sure she's a great guardian to you and your sister. I want you to listen to me loud and clear. If Edelgard and her little slave mess with me ever again, I will send them both a one way ticket to hell. I'll make sure Hades gives them a warm welcome to their eternal suffering." The Goddess of Light says darkly.

Byleth scowls at Palutena. "I may not have been Edelgard and Hubert's teacher back in Fodlan, but they're still my responsibility. I will not have you threatening or harming my students any way you please."

Palutena scoffed. "Defending those two so confidently and you don't even notice that they've been scheming behind your back. I thought you'd be smarter than this."

"What are you talking about?" Byleth asks.

Palutena would love to reveal Edelgard's plan to Byleth. It would make things easier, but there was no satisfaction in just telling him she thought. She was going to keep to her word. She was going to let Byleth find out for himself or expose Edelgard if she tries to go through with her plans.

The Goddess sits back down in her seat. "I'm sure a talented professor such as yourself will figure it out soon. Now, if you don't have anything else to ask me, then leave me." She demanded.

With that, Byleth and Yuri leave the infirmary. Byleth was already aware of how powerful Palutena is, so it's best to not push on further.

"Well, I'd say that was an interesting encounter. Her attitude certainly doesn't match her title, but I think that's what's so intriguing about her." Yuri comments. "She does bring up a good point Byleth."

Byleth turns to Yuri. "What are you talking about?"

"Listen, I love you, but a lot of things get past you. It's your most fatal flaw. You're very competent in battle, but discovering things have never been your strong suit. The multiple disappearances, avoiding conversations with her "friends", not saving Hubert from getting killed. Her own retainer. The signs are all there. The Goddess speaks true. Edelgard is not to be trusted. Whatever she's planning could potentially put us all in danger."

Byleth frowns. Yuri brought up good points. It was true that Edelgard's activities have been very suspicious. But he didn't understand why Edelgard was acting so distant from her friends. Why didn't she save Hubert while he was on the verge of death? Byleth wanted to believe Yuri, but he didn't understand why Edelgard was acting the way she was.

" _Could it be because of me?" Byleth wondered. "Edelgard… What are you hiding from us?"_

* * *

Claude was completely unaware that Yuri was currently with Byleth at the moment. He was in the assigned room for the Golden Deers and preoccupied with his own thoughts. If he wasn't in the Smash Realm, teenage thoughts of love and happiness wouldn't come to mind. He was too busy watching his back to worry about his own personal needs. It's why it was difficult to open up to the rest of the Golden Deers despite being easy to approach. Byleth coming into his life changed him and now that he was in Smash, he didn't have to hide his feelings anymore or worry about being murdered in his sleep. Even if everyone found out he was Almyran, it wouldn't have any consequences here in the Smash Realm. Claude would find ways to keep their mouths shut when they returned to Fodlan. However, Claude started trusting the one person who might have sold him out back at the academy and he was too busy huffing at his current inactivity.

"Claude, are you finished napping for the day? As the future leader of the Alliance, you cannot afford to slack off. We may be in a different realm, but we still have our studies to work on."

Lorenz may not stab him in the back anymore, but he was still going to grill him like his asshole half-brother back at home.

"I'm not slacking off," Claude hummed. "I'm just daydreaming."

The archer decided being blunt meant Lorenz would drop the subject. The older noble despite supporting Claude, did not approve of his immaturity.

"You daydream every day now ever since the ball. It's an unruly sight," Lorenz laments.

Hilda walks up to Lorenz. "Lorenz, it's pretty obvious why our leader has been having his daydreams. He's engaged to the stoic and dense professor that he loves oh so much." The twin haired girl teases. "Who wouldn't be happy with being engaged with the one you love?"

"Despite the fact that he's sharing Professor Byleth with two other people. That within itself is such an unconventional practice in Fodlan. If people heard of this back in Fodlan, you'd be the talk of the entire country." Lorenz says to Claude.

Claude sits up in his bed. "Well I'm glad that's not something I need to worry about. Of course I'm happy being engaged with Byleth. If you want me to be honest, getting proposed and entering into a harem was the last thing I expected to happen in my life. I mean Bernadetta is fine, but Yuri…" The Almyran groaned in disgust. "I can't stand being in the same room as that guy. So annoying."

"The way you two bicker all the time. You already act like a married couple. He is technically your husband too." Hilda jokes.

This only made Claude feel more dread. He would just want to be considered as Byleth's husband and wants no association with Yuri. "Well he's the worst husband."

Lysithea approaches the Golden Deer leader with the rest of the Golden Deers behind her. "Claude. I believe there's a serious topic that needs to be discussed that hasn't been talked about enough since it happened." She states.

"What's up Lysithea?" Claude asks. He does his best not to tease her.

The tension rose up in the room because of how serious the deers looked. This group was known for being light-hearted overall but they were capable of serious dialogue.

"That day when that Lady Rhea lookalike was beating the hell out of Hubert. I don't know what the full context might have been, but did you notice how Edelgard just stood there and watched it happen?" Leonie asks.

"Her most faithful retainer. She didn't even bother to fight to protect him. It was Ferdinand who had to step in." Ignatz says. "And those two can't stand each other."

That was the most shocking thing about the turn of events. Ferdinand and Hubert made it clear they couldn't tolerate each other's presence. Ferdinand even sucked up to the Goddess of Light and asked for her blessings. The fact he threw it away just to protect his sworn enemy meant something was definitely wrong.

"She hasn't even been checking up on him since that day. Actually, I don't see Edelgard too often around here. I do wonder where she goes." Raphael scratches his head trying to think.

Claude places his hand on his chin. "You have a point. Edelgard has been missing for a long time. I've noticed this behavior as well back in Fodlan. She was very distant back at the academy. I was doing a bit investigating, but I got a little...caught up."

"You mean you were too busy fawning over Byleth." Hilda clarifies with a grin.

Claude puts his hand up to rebuttal at Hilda, but he puts his hand down realizing that Hilda was right. He was too focused on Byleth that he completely forgot all about investigating Edelgard on his own time. Acting his age did have problems.

"I'm a little worried. For some reason, I feel something terrible will be upon us. I mean, if a Goddess has an issue with Edelgard, then something must be wrong…" Marianne comments.

"I can't imagine pissing off a Goddess. You cannot overrule someone who watches over us mortals." Lorenz comments.

"The Gods and Goddesses here are more down to earth," Claude brings up. "Yeah, they're stronger than us, but not unbeatable. And they can be reasoned with."

"That's probably because of the rules that apply to this realm," Lysithea adds. "Without these rules, they might abuse their powers in a way we haven't witnessed."

It was still strange how a realm where everyone was equal, Palutena was allowed her temper tantrum without any consequences. Had Shulk not intervened, there would be two less students from the monastery.

 _It might not be a well thought out idea, but maybe I should start searching for Teach._ Claude thinks to himself. _Maybe he will have an idea where Edelgard is._

The main problem with this plan is that Yuri would most likely be with him. Even if this was something serious, Claude just couldn't stand being around Yuri for long. Perhaps that humiliation at the ball created a grudge that stayed with him despite his confession going well.

" _Not all my plans are great, but I don't have much of a choice this time."_ Claude thinks to himself. "Maybe Teach knows where Edelgard is. I think I'm gonna look for her. I had a nice nap after all."

Hilda giggled while Lorenz only rolled his eyes.

"Claude, that's just an excuse to be near the Professor." Hilda hummed.

Claude pretended that wasn't part of his plan that was being made along the way.

"Maybe it would be better if we all split up and looked for her," the Golden Deer leader continued. "The mansion is pretty big. If she's not in the mansion, then we know something is up."

It's not that the Golden Deer didn't disagree with the plan. Chances were that Claude would search for Byleth while everyone else looked for the Black Eagle leader. As long as they could corner her, they could get the information they needed on her recent disappearance and current attitude.

The Golden Deer divided itself into three groups. Raphael and Ignatz would take one side of the mansion. Leonie, Marianne and Lysithea would look outside. Claude, Hilda and Lorenz would take the other side of the mansion. A flawless group with an obvious flaw. Claude was gonna break away from his classmates at some point to do some investigation on his own. Hilda understood, but Lorenz would complain about the archer not sticking through a basic plan. It was out of habit at this point. Claude liked doing things on his own. He might ask Hilda every now and then, but he just couldn't get out of that phase. If he wanted to find Edelgard, he would get her alone himself.

The funniest part was that Claude made the right decision. Once he traversed the hallway alone, he caught someone with familiar white hair by herself.

"Well, look what we have here. Haven't seen you in ages Princess!"

Edelgard didn't expect anyone to find her alone. She was still thinking about something to herself before everything fell into motion. To hear Claude of all people only annoyed her and it was apparent to the Almyran when she slowly turned her head to glare at him.

Claude puts his hands up in defense. "Yikes, no need to give me that look. You look like you saw a Goddess." He jokes.

Okay, that was not the best thing to say to Edelgard given her horrible view of Palutena. He couldn't help it because he shouldn't be on the receiving end when he hadn't done anything to her in comparison.

"My apologies. I thought I would be alone to clear my mind. I was sorely mistaken." Edelgard states.

Claude tilts his head. "Huh? You've been alone for a while now. I haven't seen you since the ball and after what Palutena did." Edelgard didn't run away so that was a good sign. "What's going on that you're not around the mansion as much? Too surprised that Teach got engaged?"

Claude screamed to himself for asking that. Byleth had warned him how insensitive he was when it came to getting the truth out of people.

Sure enough, Edelgard did not take that question well. "You mock me?"

Claude held his hands up in defense. "N-No! Not at all! Where I'm from, you could join the harem too if you told Teach how you felt."

This was probably the closest Claude came to admitting he was from Almyra to Edelgard. Not like Edelgard would catch that. He was good at setting her off.

"You have the audacity to imply that the future heir of Adrestia would ever stoop so low as to joining a harem and losing all of her power within it." Edelgard sneered.

"Not true! Everyone shares the power-"

"And how would you know about how a depraved system works?!" The Imperial Princess yells.

Claude was not ready to deal with Edelgard's surprising short temper. He was fortunate that their voices were heard and that there were others that were looking for her.

"SO THIS IS WHERE YOU'VE BEEN EDELGARD!"

Leave it to Ferdinand Von Aegir to save the day. Not just him, but the rest of the Black Eagles were with him too including Hubert. Ever since that incident, Ferdinand appointed himself the leader of the Black Eagles (minus Bernadetta) due to Edelgard vanishing and not being supportive of her retainer. As much as Hubert tried to deny everything the future empress did and didn't do for him, he had no choice sticking close to the idiot noble. Ferdinand wasn't going to let him crawl back to Edelgard's side until they all had answers.

Edelgard was only more annoyed seeing Ferdinand standing in the way of her and Claude. She looked at Hubert and only frowned. What was going on in her mind seeing him without his dark magic?

"Edelgard, where have you been?!" Caspar repeated. "We were worried about you!"

"Correction. Some of us were concerned for you. Others like myself wondered where you could be after what the Goddess did," Linhardt said with a yawn. "I almost believed that you were killed and thrown into a dumpster."

Dorothea was not impressed. "Linhardt! That's uncalled for! Edie, believe us, we are all worried for you."

Edelgard's expression softened but only for a bit. She could believe Dorothea's words at the very least, but of course, Ferdinand liked being the center of attention.

"Edelgard, where have you been?! You haven't even checked up on Hubert after Lady Palutena's outburst! Why? He's your retainer! Your friend! Why would you leave him to die?!"

Hubert glared at the standoffish noble. "I already told you. It is my duty to serve Edelgard. My problems are my own."

Ferdinand wasn't having that. "And I told you too, Hubert that it's not normal for a friend to watch someone be pummeled to death without as much as lifting a finger!" His attention was turned back to Edelgard. The soft expression completely vanished turning into something cold. "If the Goddess is doing something that prevents you from standing up for your friend, tell us! Don't leave us all in the dark and disappear like you had nothing to do with this!"

Hubert shook his head in disbelief. He knew Edelgard wasn't going to confess her plans. It was not worth it. He had to be thrown away for her goal to be achieved. Edelgard knew this too, and why she had the right to toss him aside now that he was useless without his black magic.

"This does not concern you Ferdinand," Edelgard answers calmly. "This does not concern any of you. My grudge against the fake Goddess has nothing to do with what had transpired weeks ago. That is all."

"Bullshit!" Caspar cursed. "I may not be smart, but I know what you're thinking in that head of yours when you think the rest of us can't comprehend what's going on! Just be honest with yourself!"

Sometimes Caspar was capable of saying smart things, but it was often ignored.

"I agree with Caspar," Petra adds. "Edelgard, you cannot do everything alone. Friends help each other."

Dorothea nodded her head in agreement. "Edie, if there's something else on your mind. We will hear you out."

Edelgard smiled. It wasn't a good thing. In fact, the smile was cracked. "Be honest with myself? Hear me out? If only that was true."

Ferdinand folded his arms. "What's there not to believe?" He questioned. "We're your classmates. I believe an explanation is in order."

Unfortunately, the future Empress had no reason to tell them anything. In her mind, she knew everything was set in stone. No way would she change her mind at the last minute.

"There isn't anything to be said," Edelgard states firmly. "And I would appreciate it if you all stayed out of my business."

Claude was still there in complete bewilderment. A part of him should be mad at himself seeing as how he wasn't any different with the Golden Deer. He refused to tell them about his past and what was on his mind. They only had a slight idea of his heritage, but not his status as the Prince of Almyra. He couldn't handle the idea of being rejected if they found out, so he always dodged the question. Edelgard was just more blunt about her distrust toward her classmates. The only problem was…

"Edelgard, there's no reason to pretend that you don't want any help," Claude starts. He had no reason to jump between the Black Eagles and their leader, but did so anyway. "They're your friends whether you want to admit to or not so perhaps...start acting like you care?"

Edelgard didn't forget Claude was still there to see the fallout. He was the last person she wanted to hear it from.

"I don't need to hear that from you." Edelgard says, trying to keep her temper in check but was noticeably failing.

"Maybe you do need to hear it from me. I'm just an outsider looking in, and I know that it's important to keep your friends close."

And again, the creepy smile showed up on her face again. Claude saw it and immediately felt like he was looking at a demon ready to murder him.

"That's right, you are an outsider. Someone that doesn't belong in Fodlan...yet you show up and ruin my plans before it could begin. I waited for so long here and now I'm being told by a filthy outsider that I should just drop everything for friendship?! Don't make me laugh!" Edelgard growled.

Claude realized too late he might have touched a sore spot. He backed up just a bit from the tiny future Empress, but the other Black Eagles were taken back by Edelgard raising her voice.

Edelgard points to Claude. "Why don't you do me a favor and go back to wherever you came from! You have been nothing but a nuisance to my plans!"

If Edelgard knew Claude was from Almyra, the prince would have been subjected to some not so great language about his people. Without that knowledge, the words didn't hurt as much. But Edelgard didn't need to know what was in his blood. She knew he wasn't from Fodlan, and that alone was enough to toss him out with everyone else who couldn't see her vision.

"Stay out of my way Claude von Riegan, if that's even your real name! I'm tired of your meddling!"

No one was able to stop Edelgard as she stormed off without answering a single question. Hubert was the most stunned by his lady losing her temper like that. She was always so calm and calculated like him. What has changed in the last few weeks for her to be so...violent?

Linhardt was the only one unaffected by their leader's sudden temper tantrum. He let out another yawn. "See? This is why ganging up on her wasn't going to work. Do try to think of a better plan next time Ferdinand."

Normally, Ferdinand would have something to say. This time, he was left speechless. The girl in front of him was not his rival at the academy. The girl in front of him was a shell of her former shelf and he didn't understand why.

Claude hadn't recovered from the sudden attack from Edelgard. He wasn't that great at reaching out to others, but he felt like he suffered from a powerful whiplash. Her cold eyes said everything he needed to know about her.

_Edelgard really hates me...why?_

* * *

Byleth and Beth arrive at the Smash Church of Seiros where Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn are waiting for them by the altar. The three had serious looks on their faces.

"Byleth. Beth. Thank you for coming to us at this time." Lady Rhea bows. "We have a problem that concerns the both of you." She says.

"Wow. Something I can be involved in? What a surprise." Beth says sarcastically.

Sothis appears floating above the Eisner Twins. "My daughter. Children." The Goddess covers her mouth and lets out a yawn. "What seems to be troubling you?"

Rhea looks over to Seteth. "Seteth. Show them what you've discovered."

Seteth reaches into his pocket and takes out a dagger to present to the Eisner Twins. "Does this dagger look familiar to you?" He asks.

Byleth, Beth, and Sothis observe the dagger in Seteth's hand. Sothis didn't know the significance of the weapon, but Byleth and Beth instantly recognized the dagger.

The female professor clenches her fist in anger. "Manuela showed me this dagger… the day after Pops was killed. This is the same dagger that Monica killed him with." Beth growled.

"Where did you find this?" Byleth asks.

"Catherine and Shamir brought this to my attention one day while they were out in the city. It appears that...they are here in this realm. Those same people that you saw in Remire Village. Tomas as well." Seteth answers.

"That is certainly not good." Sothis comments.

"Do you know anything about these people Lady Rhea? Who are they? Where are they coming from? What are their purposes?" Byleth questioned the Archbishop.

Lady Rhea closes her eyes and lowers her head. "I'm afraid I have no knowledge of who these beings are or their intentions. I wish to know more about these people as much as you do."

Beth groans in annoyance. "You are so full of shit you know that!" She points at the Archbishop. The outburst surprised everyone in the Church. "How long are you going to keep up with these lies Rhea?! You expect me to believe that you don't know ANYTHING about these freaks?! You know what they are!"

Sothis gets up in Beth's face. "Beth! Control yourself! Yelling isn't going to solve anything" She scolds.

Beth moves Sothis aside. "No! I am not calming down! This is the same person that was holding our mother's dead corpse in the sewers because she was trying to use her to revive you! You expect me to believe her when she says she doesn't know anything?! I'm tired of this! These guys might have something to do with Flayn getting kidnapped! Doesn't that not bother you?!" She ranted.

Seteth looked like he wanted to say something about the situation. He knew much more about what was going on, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. It honestly frustrated him, but he made a promise to Lady Rhea to make sure nobody learned their secrets.

"I understand your anger Beth. I'm not saying that you're wrong, but this will only cause more problems if we continue to communicate with each other like this." Sothis says. The Progenitor God turns to her daughter. She gives Rhea a stern look. "Rhea. If you truly are hiding something from us, I command you to tell us at once! As your mother and as your Goddess!"

"I agree with my sister." Byleth spoke up. "Enough of the lies Lady Rhea. Please, tell us what you know."

Rhea was now put into a rough situation. She didn't care much about Byleth and Beth pushing her on, but Sothis? Her Goddess? Her mother? She couldn't possibly say no to her. But she knew that revealing who these mysterious people are meant revealing to Eisner twins the true identity of her, Seteth, and Flayn, and her mother might get her memory back. A memory Rhea certainly did not want Sothis to remember.

Before Rhea could say anything, Catherine and Shamir came storming into the church.

"Lady Rhea! We have an emergency!" Catherine says.

"You're not going to believe this, but the Death Knight is here in this realm." Shamir explains.

Everyone's eyes widen in horror. "The same individual that kidnapped me back at Garreg Mach?! H-How could that be possible?!" Flayn spoke in a shaky tone.

Catherine shakes her head. "Your guess is as good as ours. He came into New Smash City on a horse and he just started slaughtering civilians. Probably still is as we speak."

"Well just our luck huh?" Beth said exasperated. "Just when we thought things couldn't get worse."

"Why is he doing this…?" Byleth wondered.

"We cannot allow him to continue killing innocent people. Byleth. Beth. You must put a stop to the Death Knight. He may find his way here and try to attack the students again." Rhea says.

"Just leave things to us Rhea. If anything goes wrong, do not hesitate to call out to any of the Gods for help." Sothis says.

"We will handle it." Byleth says.

"Before you go on your way, there's something I need to give Beth." Shamir says. She reaches into her jacket pocket and hands Beth a pair of custom made brass knuckles that appeared to be made out of rubies.

Beth tilts her head at the fist-load weapon. She's never seen anything like it. "What is it?" She asks Shamir.

"It's a gift from that Rodin guy for being one of his favorite customers. They're called brass knuckles from what he told me. Since you're more of a brawler compared to Byleth, he thought these would be perfect for you. You're able to make spikes come out of it and you can even let out a shockwave on the ground with enough power. If it's not up to stuff, he says you can complain to him about it. But he's confident that you'll love it. He calls it the _Hiiro No Ken_."

Beth looks back at the brass knuckles in smiles. "Must've been expensive stuff to make something like this." The female professor puts the brass knuckles on her hands. "They fit more comfortably than gauntlets." She punches her fist together and activates the spikes to come out of the brass knuckles. Beth's eyes glowed.

"Amazing." Byleth comments.

"Took the words right out of my mouth brother." Beth replied. "Now I wonder how to activate that shockwave thing." The blue haired mercenary looks down to the ground and clenches her fist. "HAAAAAA!" Beth yells and raises her hand to punch the ground. She feels her Crest activating. Sothis puts up a barrier around her and Byleth to prepare for the potential impact that this weapon might have. A smaller one was put up around everyone else but it wouldn't be as effective.

Beth punches the ground with full force, letting out a shockwave that knocks Rhea, Seteth, Flayn, Catherine, and Shamir away into the walls of the church. All the pews around the church got destroyed, the murals on the ceiling all broke, and a crater was left on the part of the ground Beth punched. The entire church was now left a mess.

Beth smiled widely. "Now this is what the hell I'm talking about! I don't know what crazy magic Rodin did to make something like this, but I love it!" She says excitedly.

"That is a very powerful weapon. No weaponsmith in Fodlan can forge something of that caliber." Byleth states.

Sothis brings down her barrier. "Now that you've tested your weapon and destroyed the church, we have the Death Knight to take care of. We must not waste anymore time!" She says.

"Yeah. Let's take care of this guy again. We won't even need Lysithea to deal with him this time." Beth jokes.

Byleth smiles at his sister. "I'm sure she'd be happy that we won't have to pester her." He jokes back.

The Eisner Twins run out of the Church and start making their way towards New Smash City to battle with the Death Knight.

While the church was damaged and the people within the church had the wind knocked out of them, a certain Manakete let out a yawn as she woke up from her nap.

"Hmm? What happened here?" Tiki asked out loud wondering why everything turned to hell around her while she slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes!
> 
> 1\. Claude pre-timeskip is rather insensitive to other people’s feelings. We see this with Marianne’s support where he thinks trading information about the past is how bonds are forged and is confused when Marianne refuses to tell her past even when Claude gives a bit about himself. He does the same thing with Flynn in their support while understanding later that bringing up trauma will not give him the information he wants (and is just an asshole move). He also unintentionally triggers Edelgard when he brings up rats (which is another reason she doesn’t want to deal with Claude at times). And of course, Claude was always the one joking about how Edelgard and Dimitri would make a great pairing...so him joking about being part of Byleth’s harem and Edelgard isn’t is just another way to set her off. 
> 
> 2\. Daily reminder Edelgard sent the bandits in the prologue to kill Dimitri and Claude and made it clear she had no intentions of getting to know Claude despite him coming out of nowhere. It's why she didn’t believe Claude would run away at the sign of danger instead of fighting. Her plan was ruined before it started. And then Byleth would pick the Golden Deer house. Claude won’t put two and two together at this point given how Edelgard hit him where it hurts. 
> 
> 3\. Tiki is also a dragon, so of course she’s gonna sleep in the area where all the dragons are gathered.


	2. Chapter 2

New Smash City is currently in a state of fear and terror. Citizens are screaming and running for their lives as the Death Knight rides on his horse, killing everyone in his path with his Scythe of Sariel. There were dead bodies with holes in their torsos and decapitated limbs just laying around the street. The Death Knight was basically painting New Smash City red. However, the Death Knight was feeling dissatisfied. Killing weaklings who just ran away was not something that excited them. He wanted more. He wanted a challenge. A fight.

Byleth and Beth arrive in New Smash City to see the massacre that the Death Knight had left. While the twins were used to seeing so much gore and blood, it still wasn't a good sight to see. Especially when it involved innocent people.

"This is horrible…" Byleth mourned.

Beth growls. "Damn the Death Knight. These people didn't do anything to him."

"Ashen Demon! Scarlet Fist!" The Death Knight yelled. Byleth and Beth look in front of them to see the Death Knight pointing his scythe at him. "We cross paths once again."

Byleth takes out his Creator Sword. "I don't know how you found your way into this realm, Death Knight. But you will not kill any more innocent people!" He declares.

"I've gotten tired of you sticking your nose where it doesn't belong! Taking it out on people who've done nothing to you either! Byleth and I will beat you ourselves! Be lucky we don't have Lysithea here to embarrass you again." Beth smirked.

"Yes. Finally. You two are the only worthy opponents. I've grown tired of killing these people. They're nothing but fodder. I've been waiting to do battle with you two. Either I die or you die. I do not care. Now, prepare yourselves." The Death Knight says. He readies his horse to prepare to charge at the Eisner Twins.

Byleth and Beth get into their battle stance.

" **Both of you stay on your toes. We may have the number advantage, but the Death Knight is still a very dangerous foe to fight. Do not let your guard down!"** Sothis warns them.

"Our best bet is to knock him off of his horse and then double team him from there. He's a proficient cavalier fighter, but his abilities may be weaker if he's on foot." Byleth suggests.

Beth nods in agreement. "Gotcha. I'm right with you. I really wanna put these brass knuckles to good use."

"Just stick behind me. I'll try my best to knock him off." Byleth says.

The Death Knight charges at the Eisner Twins. Byleth charges forward to the Death Knight. The two exchange clashes with each other with their weapons. The Death Knight swings his scythe at Byleth, the mercenary was able to jump back away from the attack.

Byleth attacks with three sword slashes which the Death Knight was able to block easily. As Byleth tries to attack with a horizontal sword slash, but the Death Knight makes his horse jump back to dodge the attack.

Beth runs past Byleth and charges towards the Death Knight. She jumps up in the air and attempts to punch the Death Knight. The Death Knight uses his horse to sidestep out of the way of the attack. Beth lands on her feet. She turns around and sees the Death Knight raising his scythe in the air, preparing to swing it down at the female mercenary. Beth rolls out of the way in time of the Death Knight's attack.

With the Death Knight's attention being focused on his sister, Byleth sees this as an opportunity to strike the Death Knight from behind. Byleth uses his Creator Sword as a whip to wrap his sword around the Death Knight's hand, stopping him from swinging his scythe.

"What?!" Death Knight said. He turns to Byleth. "You!" He yells.

Beth smirked, seeing the opportunity present in front of her. She lunges at the Death Knight and punches him in the face to knock him off his horse. The horse neighs and begins to move around sporadically. The horse runs past Beth, leaving the Death Knight to fend for himself.

The Death Knight gets to feet. He looks to his left to see Byleth slowly walking towards and he looks to his right to see Beth walking towards him.

"You act all high and mighty when you're on your horse. Let's see how tough you are without it." Beth taunts.

"I'm only going to give you this one chance to back down and surrender Death Knight. You won't be able to handle the both of us. Especially now that you're not on horseback." Byleth says.

"As long as I am still breathing, I will not surrender! You either kill me or I'll kill you!" The Death Knight declared.

The Death Knight raises his scythe and lets out a battle cry as he charges at Byleth. Byleth takes his stance and parries a horizontal slash from the Death Knight and knocks him back with his own horizontal slash. The Death Knight grunts in pain and stumbles back.

Before the Death Knight could attempt to attack Byleth again, Beth comes from behind the Death Knight and wraps her arms around the Death Knight's waist. The Death Knight is surprised by this.

"Don't forget about me!" Beth yells. "RAAAAAAAAGH!" The female mercenary lifts up the Death Knight and slams him down to the ground with a German Suplex.

The Death Knight slowly got up on one knee, panting. Beth rotates her neck and her right arm. She turns to Byleth. "You want me to finish him off or would you rather do the honors?"

Byleth shrugs. "I'll leave it up to you sister. Do your thing." He says.

Beth smirks. She turns her attention back to the Death Knight and cracks her knuckles. "If you say so brother."

Beth runs to the Death Knight. Her Crest activates as she hits the Death Knight with a right hook, destroying his mask and making blood spew out from his mouth. The Death Knight falls back down to the ground completely knocked out.

Beth grinned. "And that takes care of that."

Byleth walks up to his sister and looks down at the Death Knight. "Is he still alive?" He asks.

"Well I didn't hit with the spiked fist, so he should be alright. I did punch pretty hard with these things though. He mostly likely has a concussion." Beth says.

The twins take a closer look at the Death Knight's unmasked face. The face showed a man with blond hair.

Byleth notices something about the man. "He shares the same hair color as Mercedes." He comments.

"Handsome guy too." Beth compliments You think there might be some relation?" She asks her brother.

"I'm not sure. I guess it could be a possibility. This is going to sound crazy, but I think we should bring him back to the Mansion and show him to the students. Maybe they might know who he is." Byleth suggests.

Beth raises an eyebrow at her brother's suggestion. "I don't think they'll be too pleased to see the guy that tried to kill us back in Fodlan." The female mercenary folds her arms. "Alright. I guess we can go with your plan before we decide to kill him or not."

" **Byleth! Beth! Look in front of you!"** Sothis alerts.

The Eisner Twins look up and see a figure in the distance. Their eyes widen in shock when the figure is revealed to be the Flame Emperor. The Flame Emperor turns away from the Eisner Twins and teleports away.

Beth groans and kicks dust. "Just when I thought things couldn't get worse! Now that bastard is in this realm too!" She complains.

"And if the Flame Emperor is in this realm, then maybe the person that killed father is here too…" Byleth inferred.

" **We'll report this back to Rhea. Let's bring the Death Knight back to the Mansion first."** Sothis says.

Byleth picks up the Death Knight and holds him over his shoulder. Despite the heavy armor on the Death Knight, Byleth was strong enough to hold onto the Death Knight with no issues. The Eisner Twins make their way back to the mansion.

* * *

**Smash Mansion**

Byleth and Beth enter inside of the room of the Blue Lion students. The Blue Lions were surprised to see their professors bursting through their door. They were especially surprised and also horrified to see the Death Knight in Byleth's arms.

"I-I-Is that the Death Knight?!" Ashe shakily asked, pointing at the figure.

"Correct." Beth answered.

Byleth places the Death Knight on Sylvain's bed, which caused the orange haired student to quickly jump off his bed freaked out.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Don't put that serial killer on my bed! Are you crazy?!" Sylvain complained.

"Relax. He's knocked out. I don't think he'll be waking up anytime soon." Beth assures.

"How did he make his way into this realm? I thought it was only us that traveled here." Ingrid questions.

"We don't know ourselves," Byleth shrugged. "Shamir and Catherine told us that he was in the city killing people while we were with Lady Rhea. We managed to stop him."

Annette slowly and nervously walks up to the unconscious Death Knight. She felt chills down her spine. She couldn't believe that she was approaching the man that tried to kill them three times beforehand. When she saw the Death Knight's face, her worries started to lessen.

"You know, without the scary mask he's actually not that scary to look at." Annette comments.

"Now that I look at him, he does look like our former professor. Jeritza." Dimitri comments.

"That's because it is Emile." Mercedes says.

The other Blue Lion students look to their fellow classmates along with Byleth and Beth.

"Emile?" Byleth raises an eyebrow.

"You know this guy Mercedes?" Beth asks.

Mercedes nods. "Yes. That is Emile. He is my little brother."

"Brother?!" Everyone (except Felix) screamed in shock.

"So this entire time we've been fighting Professor Jeritza?! Who just happens to be Mercedes' brother?!" Ashe questions.

Beth scratches her head. "Things just keep getting crazier and crazier." She states.

Sylvain looks over to Felix. "You've been awfully quiet Felix. Did you know that Jeritza was the Death Knight the entire time?" He questioned.

"No. I didn't. I already knew that Mercedes had a younger brother. I'm just as surprised as you are to find out that he's the Death Knight." Felix answers.

Dedue turns to the Eisner Twins. "You two seem to have left the battle with no injuries? Tell me, how were you able to easily defeat him?"

"We just knocked him out of his horse." Byleth explains.

The Blue Lions stared at the Eisner Twins with confusion and amusement. The Death Knight was a fearsome foe some back in Fodlan that always gave the students some trouble every time they faced him. They were only able to defeat him in battle due to Lysithea's magic being effective against cavalier riders. The Blue Lions kind of expected a bit of a complex explanation of how their professors were able to defeat the Death Knight.

"You just...knocked him off his horse?" Ashe asks, tilting his head.

Beth nods. "Yeah. Byleth mentioned how the Death Knight always fought on a horse. So he figured that taking him off the horse would weaken his offense and defense. Then we double teamed him." She explained.

Ingrid facepalms and shakes her head. "Such a simple solution. Why didn't we think of that?"

"Would you ever wanna approach a guy in a scary looking armor and scythe and try to knock him off of his horse? I wouldn't." Annette shuddered.

Mercedes walks over to Byleth and places her hands over his hands. She bows to Byleth. "Thank you so much for sparing my little brother," She looks over to Jeritza. The cleric frowns at her little brother. "Oh Emile, what could have made you turn to this path?" She says somberly.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't just kill while you were out there. But I guess it was the right choice in the end." Sylvain says.

"So what should we do Byleth? Do we just keep him here with us until he wakes up? What if he tries to attack us?" Dimitri asks.

Mercedes shakes her head. "Emile wouldn't do such a thing! I will help him remember who he is! I swear it!" She declared.

Shulk knocks on the door of the Blue Lion room and enters inside. "Hello," He bows. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

" _ **Where are your manners? You don't knock and then enter. You knock and then wait for a response for you to enter. Unbelievable."**_ Alvis complained.

Shulk sighed. He looks over at the bed where Jeritza was laying and tilts his head in confusion. "Who is that?" The Visionary pointed at Jeritza.

"The Death Knight. Or rather, Jeritza as his actual name. A guy who tried to kill us back in Fodlan who somehow found his way into this realm. Byleth and I took care of him and now he's here." Beth explains.

" _Death Knight? I didn't see anything like him in my visions! Well...Byleth and Beth were able to defeat him handily. So I guess it's okay."_ Shulk thought to himself.

"That's not all that happened today. You aren't going to believe this, but Beth and I saw the Flame Emperor." Byleth explains.

Everyone's eyes widened in horror. Shulk especially started to get paranoid. Visions started to appear of a figure wearing black and red armor with a white and red mask holding a giant shield and an axe that was like the other relic weapons that he observed today.

" _That must be the person I've seen in my visions. He's here in this realm?! My visions are all coming together! They will probably arrive at the mansion soon!"_ Shulk says to himself.

Shulk quickly leaves out of the Blue Lion room to run back to his own room. Beth wondered why the foreseer was so quick to leave, even though he had just entered the room. She shrugs it off and pays no mind to it.

" **Shulk left in such a hurry. He only just came into the room. Maybe he saw another vision? Could the Flame Emperor have been part of that vision?"** Sothis questioned.

" _Who knows. The guy clearly doesn't wanna tell us anything for some reason. I don't know what's going on with him, but something definitely made him get jumpy."_ Beth says.

"T-The Flame Emperor?!" Ashe screamed.

"Please tell me you're joking…" Sylvain says.

"Byleth and Beth are terrible liars. They never beat around the bush about anything either. You should know that by now." Felix stated.

Beth turned to Dimitri, she saw his fist tightened and his body shaking furiously with his head down. She remembered when she first saw Dimitri snap that day in Remire Village. It scared her. That was when she first realized that the sweet, humble, and out of touch prince had a dark side within him.

"That monster…" Dimitri started in a raspy voice. "The one who was present at Remire Villager during its tragedy. Now they've come here to hurt more innocent people! They were probably the reason why Professor Jeritza was doing what he was doing! That bastard… He must be killed! He must be-"

Dedue places his hands on Dimitri's shoulder to try and calm him down. "Milord, please. You must remain calm. Please." He pleaded.

"What do we do Byleth?" Ingrid asks.

"You all stay safe and stand back. There's no need for you all to fight anymore. Beth and I will deal with the Flame Emperor if they happen to show up to the mansion. We also have tons of people to help us so you won't have to fight." Byleth says.

"I'm sure Rhea would wanna know what's going on too. Maybe after Seteth chews me out for destroying the Church, but I can take his complaining. You guys just stand back alright and watch over Jeritza." Beth tells her students.

With that, Byleth and Beth leave the Blue Lions room and begin making their way to see Rhea. Sothis appears floating above the Eisner Twins.

"This situation has only made things troublesome. Who knows when the Flame Emperor will strike. And if those people we saw in Remire Villager are also present in this realm, then everyone could be in danger." Sothis says.

"You forget Sothis, we have some really strong people in the mansion. If the Flame Emperor ever decided to try and attack the mansion, they'd be in for a rude awakening." Beth states.

"I don't doubt that we'd have people help us, but we should still warn everyone," Byleth says. "By the way Beth, have you seen Bernadetta today?" He asks.

Beth shrugs. "Beats me. Last time I saw her, she was running away from me for being a merciless killer."

"What?" Byleth asks, tilting his head.

"You know how your fiance is. But she sees me as nothing but a deranged lunatic. Even though all I want to do is befriend her," Beth sighs sadly. "I only wanna get along with my future sister in law. But I doubt that's ever gonna happen."

"Don't say that Beth. I know Bernadetta can be a little hard to speak with, but she requires a lot of patience. It'll take her some time to warm up to you. You two will be bonding in no time," Byleth assured. "I'm going to go look for her. Can you and Sothis inform Rhea while I search for Bernadetta?"

"Go and search for your fiance. We will handle things from here." Sothis says.

Byleth nods and leaves his sister and Sothis to look for Bernadetta.

* * *

While commotion was going on in the Blue Lions' room, the Black Eagles had their own problems. Once Edelgard left, Hubert got pulled back into their room again. Ferdinand apologized to Claude for Edelgard's behavior but asked him to leave when it became clear they were all going to interrogate Hubert. While the Golden Deer leader agreed that the Black Eagles needed to deal with their own problem, Claude's nosiness got the best of him. He did wait for a few minutes. He needed Petra to not notice his presence if he wanted to eavesdrop on the conversation. Perhaps Hubert will finally cave in and tell the Black Eagles what they needed to hear. In the back of Claude's mind, he expected Hubert to remain tight-lipped about Edelgard despite her blatant disregard toward her retainer.

It only took ten minutes before there was a shouting match at the other side of the door. If Claude had to guess, Hubert provoked Ferdinand on something and the noble lost his cool. Caspar's voice was just loud in general and the girls couldn't calm them down. Linhardt's yawning didn't help things.

 _How do these guys function?_ Claude asks himself. _I know I joke about their lack of cooperation, but sometimes it feels like the Black Eagles hate each other._

Like Claude would be able to understand the ties that the other houses had. The Golden Deer had their obvious differences at the beginning but they were a tight family now. The Blue Lions had their issues but Claude knew that with time, they would be close as well. He just never understood why there was such a divide with this particular house. If he had to give a reason, it was Edelgard not making an attempt to befriend her fellow students.

"Hubert, for once in your life can you think for yourself?! If Edelgard is in danger, can you at least tell us?! Nothing good will come to anyone if you keep this information to yourself!" Ferdinand shouted from the other side of the door.

"And for the last time, I have nothing to say," Hubert replies smoothly.

"WHY ARE YOU SO STUBBORN?!" Caspar yelled.

Claude sighed. With how this conversation was going, nothing interesting would get done.

"It's not cool to be eavesdropping."

The Golden Deer leader jumped hearing a voice behind him. He wasn't being that discrete, but he didn't expect anyone to be here at this time other than the Black Eagle students. Claude turns around to see Sonic behind him.

"Woah, Sonic. Didn't see you there!" the archer exclaims.

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" Dorothea asks.

Claude sucks his teeth. "Damn. Guess I gotta bail now. Sonic, just walk down the hallway with me." He tells the hedgehog.

"Uh, okay then." Sonic shrugged.

Claude and Sonic begin walking down the hallway away from the Black Eagle room. Dorothea peeks out the door to see if anyone was outside, but saw no one. She shrugs and closes the room door.

Once they are out of the vicinity, Sonic turns his attention back to Claude. "You wanna explain why you're going through the trouble of spying on your fellow classmates? They didn't invite you to their slumber party?" Sonic jokes.

"No, but honestly, I'm glad I didn't get an invitation." Claude jokes back. "But no, the reason I'm snooping around is because of a friend of mine. Or rather, someone I saw as a friend but they don't particularly see me the same way." He explains.

Claude couldn't shake his mind off his small altercation with the Adrestian Princess. He acknowledged that their ideals and philosophies didn't correlate at all, but he always had a respect for Edelgard despite how much he teased her. While he was used to such derogatory remarks being said to him, hearing it from Edelgard stung a bit. He didn't even say anything cruel to her and she responded to him with a cruel comment.

"What's up?" Sonic asks.

Claude shakes his head. "To give the short version, a fellow classmate of mine named Edelgard has been going on disappearing spree for almost a month now. I'm sure you also know about how her retainer took a beating from that Goddess."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that." Sonic nods. "Heard she almost killed the guy. Palutena is one of those people you definitely don't wanna be on their bad side. She may be lazy, but mess with her and she'll get serious. I've seen first hand how threatening Palutena can be without even lifting a finger."

"Yeah," Claude replies nervously. "To be quite honest, I don't know what's going on. I'm worried that she might do something crazy to put all of our friends in danger. Hey, you mind if I ask a favor from you?"

Sonic ears perked up with interest. "Sure. What's up?"

"If something crazy happens and I happen to be in danger, will you come and help me? The same goes with my friends." Claude asks.

"You know, you didn't have to ask me to do something like that. I'm always willing to help us, especially friends."

"You consider me a friend?" Claude questions in shock. "We only talked once."

"You don't seem like a bad guy in my eyes. I don't think so anyways," Sonic replies. "No worries though. If you and any of your friends get into some trouble, just give me a call. I'll be there in no time flat." The hedgehog gives Claude a thumbs up and a wink.

Claude sighs in relief. While he wasn't sure what kind of powers Sonic may have, if he was anything like a lot of the other super powered beings in the mansion, he believes that things will be fine.

"Thanks Sonic." The Almyran bows.

Sonic puts his hand up. "Hey, no problem. You have yourself a goodnight. Hope things work out between you and that friend of yours."

With that, the blue hedgehog salutes to Claude and walks off to go back to his room. Claude waves goodbye back to Sonic. "Yeah… I hope so too…" He says with uncertainty.

* * *

In the garden of Smash Brothers Mansion, Bernadetta had retreated from everyone in order to attend to the plants. The people of the mansion had been kind to her allowing her to have a small guest room to herself. However, she couldn't stay there forever. The mansion was plagued by young children and rowdy Smashers that made it impossible to enjoy the peace and quiet in her room. The garden was one of the quietest places in the mansion due to how few Smashers visit there. Olimar was there all the time attending to his Pikmin and sometimes Peach would be there checking up on her vegetables. Sometimes the Villagers showed up to water the flowers with Isabelle. There wasn't a place quite like this and Bernadetta was forever grateful. Here, she can take care of the Piranha Plant. While the plants from the Mushroom Kingdom took care of themselves, this particular plant appreciated being taken care of.

"Hmmm-hmmm-hmm~" Bernadetta hummed to herself as she watered the soil around the Piranha Plant. The Piranha Plant gives Bernadetta a wide grin. "There you are! Now you're all refreshed and hydrated!" Bernadetta smiles.

Piranha Plant rubs his head on the side of Bernadetta's cheek as a sign of thanks. Bernadetta continues to hum as she ponders if she'll help water the Pikmin. Olimar or Alph should have done it already but she couldn't help but notice how the little space aliens have been absent today.

"Mr. Plant, do you think I should apologize to Beth?" She asked the plant suddenly. "I was rather rude to her this morning."

Piranha Plant tilts its head in confusion.

"I can't help it. I love the Professor, but can't apply the same love for his sister. I know she's not evil. I just can't get over how violent she gets in battle. But she's still Professor's sister. S-Since I'm engaged to him now, I'll have to get along with her at some point…" Her body trembles at the thought. "B-But, I know I can't keep hiding...but...but...it's so hard…"

Bernadetta sighed in disappointment. She wasn't really expecting the plant to give her an answer. She wondered if it even understood what she was talking about.

Unfortunately for the young hermit, her peace of mind would soon shatter upon hearing something. The Piranha Plant looks up and starts chomping the air alerting the purple haired student that someone was coming. Judging by how loud the chomps were, it was someone not from the mansion.

"Oh no! Someone's coming! I have to hide!"

There weren't that many places to hide in the garden. Bernadetta did the only thing she could at the moment and jumped into a nearby bush taking the plant with her.

It was then that a dark portal appeared. Three people slithered out of the dark portal with a menacing figure behind them.

" _N-No way!"_ Bernadetta wanted to scream when she peaked out of the bush. " _I-It's those people from Remire._ _They're the ones who killed Jeralt!"_

What could she do? She didn't bring her bow with her, and she was helpless. They would kill her if they found her right now. Fortunately, they were distracted by the person they brought along. Bernadetta nearly shrieked seeing the black and red armor.

"T-T-T-The Flame Emperor?!" She muttered. The Piranha Plant snarls at the four individuals. It wanted to extend its next and chomp on the intruders. Bernadetta places her hand on top of the Piranha Plant. "N-No Mr. Plant! W-W-We have to stay hidden! If we get caught, we're done for!"

"So, the plan is clear right?" The Flame Emperor asks.

"Yes. At dawn we will charge with our army and kill everyone in sight. The poor fools won't know the terror that will come upon them," Thales smirked evilly. "This will be a good day for the both of us. Not only will the Church of Seiros fall, but so will that so called Goddess that belittle you. You also now have the power to slay Gods."

The Flame Emperor looks down at the relic weapon in her hand. She gripped on the handle tightly. "Yes. The relic weapon, Aymr. Embedded with the Crest of Seiros. With this power, I would be slaying the Church with a weapon from the Goddess they worship so blindly."

"Aren't you worried that those pesky students will be in the way of our plans? Especially those two professors." Solon mentions.

"If they get in the way, then do what you must. We can't afford any interruptions. If they must die, then so be it." The Flame Emperor says bluntly.

Bernadetta's body tenses up at the Flame Emperor's words. _"T-They're going to kill us all! Everyone! I-I have to tell Byleth! I have to! B-But...if I try to run now. I'll surely die. Oh Bernie, what have you gotten yourself into?!"_

"How cold for someone named the "Flame" Emperor. But I like your style. If those worms wish to interfere, then they can all die!" Kronya grinned.

"Come. Let us prepare our army. Give these fools these last remaining hours to enjoy their pitiful lives. You will report back to us when it is time to invade." Thales says.

Thales, Kronya, and Solon teleport away, leaving the Flame Emperor behind. The Flame Emperor sighs. "My plan will finally be realized. A new day will come tomorrow." The Flame Emperor removes their mask.

Unbeknownst to the Flame Emperor was that Bernadetta has been spying on her. Her identity had now been revealed. Bernadetta's heart pounded fast and her breathing became rapid when she saw who had been the Flame Emperor all this time.

"I-It can't be… Edelgard?!" Bernadetta screams out loud.

Edelgard gasps at the sound of her name. Her body freezes up. Someone had seen her. She turns around to where the sound came from and looks at a nearby bush. Someone had been spying on her. Edelgard growled.

"Eeep!" Bernadetta screamed. "I have to get out of here!" The introvert grabs the Piranha Plant and jumps out from the bush. Unfortunately, Bernadetta trips over her own leg and falls on her face, dropping the Piranha Plant. "Oww…" She groaned in pain.

"Bernadetta?! You!" Edelgard yells. The Adrestian Princess marches over to her fellow classmate.

Bernadetta turns around to see Edelgard approaching her. "Gaaah!" The girl shrieked. "Run!" She tells the Piranha Plant. The Piranha Plant uses its little feet to run away and hide.

Edelgard grabs Bernadetta by her shirt and lifts her up off the ground. "What did you see?! What did you hear?! Answer me!" She yelled, shaking the purple haired girl.

"D-Don't kill me! Please! Let Bernie live!" Bernadetta pleaded.

"Shut up!" Edelgard yells, shaking her Bernadetta again. "Now you listen to me," The Adrestian Princess lowered her tone of voice to sound threatening. "You will not utter a word of what you saw to anyone. Especially not Byleth. Do you understand me?!"

If Bernadetta wasn't in the middle of a freak out, she probably would have shouted she would keep it to herself. Alas, she was not in a state of agreement. Edelgard knew this but felt her blood rising at how difficult the smaller girl was being.

"AIIIEEEE! SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! MR. PLANT, HELP!"

The plant must have felt the disturbance in the garden and all but abandoned Bernadetta. Not like she was paying any attention.

The Black Eagle leader panicked as Bernadetta's voice rose in pitch. Despite no one being in the garden, she might end up alerting someone of her presence. She needed to maintain her identity for a little while longer before the attack tomorrow.

"You are testing my patience!" Edelgard hisses. "You will stop your endless whining and you will keep quiet! Understood?!"

Again, the archer whined but her voice dyed down if only for a minute. "B-But...you can't hurt everyone here! They've been kind to us. A-And you're with them! They hurt Professor!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Edelgard asked. The last thing she wanted to be reminded of was being involved with the people who killed Jeralt. That wasn't on her orders and all that did was guarantee that if Byleth or Beth figured out her identity, they would never forgive her. "What I'm doing is for the greater good, and I will not have you interfere with my plans."

It didn't matter that Bernadetta was her classmate. If she had to silence the shrinking violet, she would. In her rage, she forgot that resorting to violence will have the opposite effect with her classmate.

Bernadetta froze the moment Edelgard's hand slapped across her face. She shrieked like an animal in the slaughterhouse. She struggled against Edelgard's strong grip even more kicking and screaming. If anyone was watching, they would find the whole scene ridiculous. Edelgard wasn't that much taller than Bernadetta, but she had the strength to lift her up. The armor protected Edelgard from Bernadetta's flailing.

"Why did you of all people have to show up right now?!" Edelgard asked out loud. She didn't expect Bernadetta to answer her. "When I get rid of the Church of Seiros and the fake Gods in this mansion, we humans will be free from their control! They're the cause of all the problems! The problems that you have suffered in your household were caused by the church!"

"Stop! Please! I'm sorry!" Bernadetta screamed.

"When my plan succeeds, you won't have to worry about crests anymore. Your father will no longer hold the power he has abused over the years. Can't you see that?!"

Edelgard slapped Bernadetta again when she continued wailing. Her explanation wasn't getting to the younger student and violence seemed to be the only answer. The more she slapped the archer, the more Bernadetta continued to break.

"I'm sorry!" Bernadetta apologized. "I'm sorry! Please stop! I'll be a good girl! Please spare Bernie!"

"Then keep your mouth shut…" Edelgard growled. Attempting to calm down proved to be impossible.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

The pupil's in Bernadetta's eyes slowly dilated the longer she apologized. Edelgard recognized the terrible look in her eyes. She used to have that look when she was a child tortured by Those Who Slither in the Dark. She wanted Bernadetta to shut up and stop reminding her of her past. When her plan succeeds, the young emperor could finally be at ease.

"If you refuse to stay silent, I have no choice but to shut you up myself!"

In the back of Edelgard's mind, murder would have kept the girl silent for good. A part of her heart still hesitated to end the life of someone she knew. If anyone from Slithers found out she hesitated for a small moment, they would take advantage of her weakness. Perhaps, that was why she resorted to simply throwing Bernadetta on the ground and making her hit her head versus slamming her head into the pavement. The former Black Eagle student no longer made a sound, but Edelgard could still see she was breathing.

"What a nuisance…" Edelgard grumbled. "I have no choice but to take her hostage…"

Edelgard reached out to grab Bernadetta again, but stopped when she saw a familiar sword attempt to cut her. Despite wearing the armor, she was able to move away from the sword's range.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Edelgard's heart fell hearing the voice of her beloved professor. He swooped in like the knight in shining armor he pretends not to be. Only this time, he was rushing toward one of his three fiances.

Byleth tunnel-visioned hearing Bernadetta's cries for help but not knowing where it was coming from (and if she really was in danger). He didn't even look at the attacker. He just attacked with the Sword of the Creator.

"Bernie!" Byleth shouts as he rushes to her side. He panics seeing her unmoving body. A quick flash to someone who had recently died came to mind. He quickly reached for her neck. The fear dissipated feeling a pulse. He sighed in relief before turning to her attacker. Byleth should have seen this coming but he was still taken aback by the Flame Emperor. "Edelgard?!"

Edelgard frowned. She was caught red-handed at long last. "Professor…"

It was foolish for Byleth to put his weapon away upon seeing the Black Eagle leader. However, he wouldn't be able to carry Bernadetta in his arms if he didn't prioritize her. His eyes never left his enemy.

"How could you?" Byleth asked her coldly. Multiple people warned him about a traitor student. Yuri flat out made it apparent it was Edelgard and he chose to ignore it because he couldn't believe any of the students could side with the same people who caused the tragedy of Remire and the death of his father. "I trusted you."

Slithers wasn't around to cast any doubt on the Flame Emperor. Edelgard could tell the truth! Explain what was going on and beg Byleth to join her in her quest. Instead, she closed her eyes in resignation. There was no hope to get the professor on her side.

"She was in the way," Edelgard responds coldly.

"Is that what you thought when Hubert got hurt too? He was in the way and you just set him up for death? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

The white haired student remained silent. Byleth wondered what was going on in her mind. She really would throw her classmates under the bus including Hubert for whatever sick plan she had.

"...It wasn't enough that you were involved with my father's murder. Now you're trying to kill one of my students I hold dear?!"

Byleth could end it right now. He could wrap the Sword of the Creator around her body and slice her bits. He could avenge his father right here…

But Bernadetta needed help. Byleth shook his head in disbelief as he turned his back on her.

"Leave," Byleth ordered. His expression darkened as he tried his best to remain calm. "Leave and don't come back. You're not welcome here."

"...You're letting me go?" Edelgard questioned.

"Go back to Fodlan," Byleth growls. "I am this close to just killing you right here. You have disappointed me."

Disappointment was too nice of a word. Byleth was furious and his heart fueled with hatred.

"If you try to lay a finger on any of my students, I will make sure there won't be a corpse to bring back to the Empire…" Byleth threatens before finally rushing off toward the infirmary. He didn't expect Edelgard to listen to him, but his threat held a lot of weight.

The moment Byleth left, Edelgard was left alone in the garden. She clenched her fists ready to punch something. Alas, the scene she caused would surely attract attention. She needed to leave. Byleth knew she was the Flame Emperor. There was no shock value anymore.

"Oh, what a pity. The Professor finally figured out one of his favorite students was a traitor. It took him way too long."

Edelgard jumped at the new voice. She turned around and saw green hair behind her. Palutena smiled when Edelgard raised Aymr to strike at her. The Goddess of Light easily moved out of the way with no effort put into her movement.

"You!" Edelgard snarls.

Palutena smirked. "I saw the whole thing. I love that I'm always right. A little girl thought she had a good plan, but it fell short because she tunnel visions. I feel bad for that little girl. I thought she was one of your friends."

"Friends? I don't have friends! And if I did, they all turned because of you!"

Palutena laughed. "And if something goes wrong, you blame someone else. I noticed that you blame all your problems on the Pope of your world. The one that looks like me."

Now it was Edelgard's turn ready to throw her plans away if it meant wiping the smirk off the green haired Goddess' face. However, she needed to be patient. Tomorrow was the day Palutena would be knocked off her throne. Her and the other fake Gods that acted like they were better than everyone else.

"But I wasn't responsible for losing your crush. That's on you," Palutena continued to taunt. "You had your chance to confess too. I'm sure Byleth's other lovers wouldn't mind sharing. After what you did to that sweet girl of his, I guess you lost that chance completely."

Edelgard wasn't the type to share. If she wanted something, she would take it. She didn't know enough about Yuri to trust him at all, but given how he was willing to backstab his friends, she could not trust him. Bernadetta has demonstrated how weak she was if a weak tap to the head was all it took to knock her out. And Claude...

"So tomorrow is the big day, huh?" The Goddess of Light continued. "That sounds interesting. You're bringing your friends here to fight little old me?" She giggles. "Don't make me laugh. What will happen tomorrow is that you will embarrass yourself and realize that Rosalina, Shulk and I are all that is needed to protect this realm."

Most of the time, Palutena had no problem mocking Shulk, but it didn't take a genius to know that the God of Fate was capable of using his god powers for the greater good.

"You're all fake Gods!" Edelgard snaps. "Tomorrow, I will peel the masks from all of you and I will reveal how Rhea is a corrupt monster who has tormented Fodlan for 1000s of years!"

"The projection is crazy," Palutena says simply. "From what I saw, you're literally siding with the people who kill for the sake of killing. I don't know how my pretty twin is worse than them."

There were so many things Edelgard wanted to scream at Palutena for. Her downplaying Rhea's role in Fodlan only made things worse. It's not like Palutena cared about what happened in other realms anyway.

"By dawn, you won't even have an army anymore," Palutena hummed. "I may not care about the problems of another realm, but I have to pay you back for what your manservant did to my son."

Dark Pit was still in a coma. Even if Shulk stopped Palutena from killing Hubert, Palutena swore she would do everything in her power to make sure Edelgard suffered. No one hurt her kids and got away with it behind a righteous persona.

"But since Byleth told you to leave, I guess you should leave before someone else from the mansion decides to off you. Oh, wouldn't that be nice."

Palutena laughed at her own bad joke. If looks could kill, Palutena would have holes on her head. Edelgard raised her axe to attack the Goddess of Light, but Palutena decided to teleport away leaving behind a trail of feathers. Edelgard wasted no time slicing at the few white feathers that fell where Palutena was standing and squashed the feathers underneath her feet.

"Damn you fake Goddess!" Edelgard cursed. Her anger was at her limits. First her useless classmates, then Claude, then Bernadetta and finally Palutena. Now she has truly lost Byleth forever. Her heart ached. Once the fake Gods and Rhea were killed, she would make sure they all knew their place. She would make them all see the evil that Rhea has caused in Fodlan. With her power, she would make them understand. And finally, she would make everyone return to Fodlan and the Empire would reunite all of Fodlan again.

"Tomorrow...all you fake Gods will fall by my axe. I will give my life for that to happen..."

* * *

Hours have passed since Edelgard's assault on Bernadetta. Byleth rushed quickly to the infirmary to have Manuela and Takemi to tend to Bernadetta's injuries. The two doctors got right to examining the young student. Takemi informed Byleth that Bernadetta had suffered a mild head injury which has rendered her unconscious. She was able to stop the bleeding, but the doctor wasn't sure how long it'll take for Bernadetta to come to.

Bernadetta laid in the hospital bed with a bandage wrap around her head and two bandages on each cheek. Byleth is sitting next to Bernadetta holding on to his fiance's hand tightly. He was hurt. He was angry. He was confused. He didn't understand it. He didn't understand why Edelgard would hurt Bernadetta. And the response that she gave to him was just as cruel.

He didn't want to believe that something was up with Edelgard. Beth, Yuri, Palutena. They all told him that Edelgard was no good. The red flags were being shown to him, but he chose to look past it. He trusted Edelgard. He didn't want to believe that she was a malicious person. He felt like such a fool for not seeing it sooner. He cursed himself.

Yuri comes bursting into the infirmary with Balthus, Hapi, and Constance. Byleth is surprised to see the Ashen Wolves up at this hour.

Yuri walks over to Byleth, then looks over to Bernadetta. "What the hell happened?!" He asks in a very worried tone. "Is she alright?!"

"Mild head injury," Manuela tells her. "We managed to stop the bleeding, but she hasn't woken up yet. Thankfully it wasn't anything too severe." Manuela looks to Byleth. "Do you know what was the cause of it? I forgot to ask you that." She asks.

"It was...Edelgard." Byleth answers.

Manuela eyes widened. "W-What?!" The professor couldn't believe the answer. One of her own students, the princess of Empire, attacked one of her own classmates in such a violent way. "T-There has to be some kind of mistake. Surely it wasn't-"

"I know what I saw!" Byleth yells, startling Manuela. "With my own eyes. She did it. She was responsible."

This pissed Yuri off. He wanted to gloat about how right he was about Edelgard, but his anger over Bernadetta injuries was what filled him. The Ashen Wolves leader punches the wall. "Damn that woman… The next time I see her, she's dead. She's not getting away with this." He vowed.

"How did you guys know she was here?" Byleth asks the Ashen Wolves.

"Well, we all heard the glass shattering scream Bernadetta is usually known for. We didn't do anything at first because the Boss thought she was just having her usual outlandish outburst. We didn't know she was actually in trouble." Balthus explains.

"When we went to the garden, it was a little messy. Which was quite odd for someone like dear Bernie, who absolutely loves tending to the flowers. Then out of nowhere, that weird carnivore plant thing that Bernie came running to us." Constance explains.

"The plant had a mask in its mouth. The masks of the Flame Emperor," Hapi says. "And if you say that you saw Edelgard attack Bernie Bear, we can pretty much put two and two together. Edelgard is the Flame Emperor."

"What are you saying?!" Manuela blurts out. "Edelgard is working alongside those people responsible for the Remire Village tragedy?!"

"And those same people responsible for killing Jeralt." Yuri finishes.

"Byleth!" Two female voices screamed. Beth and Sothis come bursting into the infirmary with a look of urgency.

Byleth stands up in alertness. "Sister. Sothis. What's wrong?"

"We have to go outside," Sothis demands. "Something… Something terrible is about to happen. I sensed hundreds upon hundreds of people approaching the mansion."

"I don't know what the hell is going on, but if Sothis says something bad is happening. Then we better prepare ourselves." Beth says.

This started to worry Byleth. His mind instantly directed towards a certain empress. "Edelgard…" He muttered to himself.

* * *

The sun was beginning to rise this morning. However, this wasn't a particularly good morning for a certain foreseer. Shulk was outside in the garden frantically trying to look for Edelgard. He felt like his time was only dwindling further and further. He needed to find some way to change this bleak future resulting in Edelgard's potential death. He had to. He needed to.

Shulk runs over to the front in the mansion. To his surprise, he sees Palutena and Rosalina standing outside by the front door.

Palutena turns to Shulk and waves at him with a smile. "Hey, I was wondering when you were going to eventually show up. You came just in time."

"Just in time for what? What are you talking about?!" Shulk questioned.

"For the show!" Palutena responds happily. "I brought Rosalina along so we can all witness the fall of Edelgard. It's going to be amazing." She grinned.

Shulk marches over to Palutena angrily. "What. Did. You. Do?!" He yells.

Palutena puts her hands up in defense. "I didn't do anything. Last night, I was simply watching Edelgard attack one of her fellow classmates and get exposed as the Flame Emperor by Byleth."

Shulk's eyes widened. "W-Was it a girl with purple hair?"

"Correct! Byleth's fiance. You know, you should really listen to those visions of yours when they show you who the bad guy is." Palutena taunts.

This only just made Shulk feel worse. Everything was falling into motion. Now he learns that the masked individual was actually Edelgard the entire time. He thought back to the broken armor he saw in his final vision of Edelgard screaming to be killed. This only made his anxiety rise up more.

"Oh no…" Was all the Foreseer could mutter.

Palutena began to cackle and slap her leg. "You should've seen her face when she heard Byleth's voice! You can actually pinpoint the second when her heart rips in half. Absolute comedy gold."

Shulk's eye began to twitch in frustration. "IS THIS SOME KIND OF TWISTED JOKE TO YOU?!" He yells angrily at the Goddess of Light.

"Well, it is pretty funny. Not gonna lie," Palutena shrugs. "All I know is that I'm right and you're wrong. And now that we've established how wrong and stupid you are. We are going to handle the situation accordingly."

"Rosalina! How could you just blindly listen to Palutena like this?!" Shulk questioned.

Rosalina shakes her head. "The universe does not lie. It has told me of the dangers of the events. Edelgard will endanger everyone. Saving her is a lost cause." The Space Goddess says.

"See Shulk? Even Rosalina has a brain up in that air head of hers." Palutena playfully insults.

This only made Shulk angrier. "No! No! No! I will save her! I won't allow my visions to come true! I will change Edelgard's future!" He vowed.

" **Shulk. You are acting like a spoiled child. Do you hear yourself? Admit that you are wrong."** Alvis tells his user.

Shulk shakes his head. "No! I'm not wrong! I'm not! I can save her!" He continued to scream.

"What's going on here?" A male voice asks.

The three deities look behind them to see it was Dimitri who has asked the question. To the surprise of the deities, all of the Garreg Mach students had come out of the mansion. Most of them have really bad bed hair.

Palutena laughs to herself. _"Oh this is just too perfect! Now everybody is here to witness this!" She says to herself._

"Heard a lot of commotion out here. Practically woke all of us up." Claude says.

"Except for Linhardt. He's still sleeping cozy in his bed. That guy can sleep through anything. Even loud explosions." Caspar comments.

"Is everything okay?" Ferdinand asks.

Shulk nervously nods his head and puts his hand up. "Y-Yes! Everything is fine! Don't worry!" He tries to assure the students.

"Everything is _**NOT**_ fine!" Sothis teleports next to the foreseer. "We are actually in danger!"

"Sothis?!" Shulk says in surprise.

"Now we have everyone here!" Palutena cheers.

Byleth, Beth, Rhea, Seteth, Flayn, and the Ashen Wolves walk to the group.

"Everyone! Go back inside! Quick!" Byleth orders.

Palutena puts her hand up to protest. "Woah. Woah. Woah. Wait a minute Byleth. Now there's no need for them to go back inside. I think it's best for them to stay out here and see what's going on." She suggests.

Claude was starting to get annoyed with all this vague talk and hiding secrets. Which was ironic for someone as secretive as him. "See what?! What the heck is even going here?!"

"They have arrived…" Rosalina silently states.

Palutena claps happily. "Oh how wonderful! They're finally here!"

Everyone turns their attention in front of them. An army of people with grey skin and black clothing were marching towards the Smash Mansion. All of these individuals are carrying knives in their hands. Their eyes filled with deadly intent. All of them having evil grins on their faces. There were hundreds upon this army.

This frightened all of the students of Garreg Mach, but that wasn't what was shocking to them. They recognized these individuals as the people who were part of the Remire Village tragedy, but there were 4 particular people in the army that were in the front line.

The dark mage Solon, the one that had been posing as Tomas in the Officer's Academy. Kronya, the one posing as a former student named Monica, the murderer of Jeralt Eisner. Byleth, Beth, and Dimitri instantly recognized Thales. Thales prevented Byleth from saving Jeralt, and Beth and Dimitri spied on them prior to them being summoned to the Smash Realm.

There was one person in front of the army that the Garreg Mach Students (with the exception of Hubert) couldn't believe was in the army. They thought their mind was playing a trick on them. That this had to be some kind of twisted joke. But it wasn't. In front of it all was their own classmate and friend, Edelgard von Hresvelg. Wearing the armor of the Flame Emperor with the Relic weapon Aymr in her hand. She kept a cold and blank stare as she marched.

"No…" Shulk muttered. He realizes that it was too late. He wasn't able to sway Edelgard from her dark path and now his visions were all coming to fruition.

"They have arrived… Those Who Slither in the Dark." Hubert mutters.

Those Who Slither in the Dark stop their march. Thales begins to laugh maniacally. "Well isn't this a treat. I stand face to face with the Progenitor God Sothis," Thales points over to Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn. "As well as the last remaining children of the Nabatea. Impressive that you've hid yourself for so long from us, but your time is up!"

"The...Nabatea…? I-I...vaguely remember that name. My children? T-These people...I…" Sothis begins to hold her head, aching in pain.

Byleth and Beth look in concern for their guardian.

"Sothis? Are you feeling okay?" Beth asks.

"Are you regaining more of your memories?" Byleth asks.

"Y-Yes… I've seen these people before. T-They were there! Long long time ago… They waged war against my children… It's all still foggy, but I recognize them." Sothis answered.

"The Argarthans will rise once again! We will kill you all and rule the surface world once again!" Thales preached. "And to help us create this new world," The Argarthan places his hand on Edelgard's shoulder. "Is the Flame Emperor herself, Edelgard von Hresvelg." He grinned evilly.

"Edelgard!" Ferdinand yelled out to his classmate. "I can't believe it! You?! The Flame Emperor?! Has this been what you've been doing this entire time behind our backs?! You bring these monsters over to kill us!"

"Silence that obnoxious mouth of yours Ferdinand!" Edelgard yells. "This has nothing to do with you. I'm taking the necessary steps I need to change this realm to be a better place!"

"And this is what you have chosen?! Betraying the trust of your friends! Aligning yourself with these despicable Agarthans! Disrespecting and disdaining the name of my mother! And you're proud of that?!" Rhea yells. "To think you share the same blood as Hresvelg!"

"HA!" Edelgard scoffed. "That's rich coming from you Rhea. You've been lying to the people of Fodlan for years with your empty promises and lies about the "Progenitor God". You've used your preachings to corrupt the people and hold Fodlan as a country back! You will die here today." Edelgard holds up Amyr. "With the exact weapon forged by the Goddess you blindly serve."

Edelgard's rambling didn't make sense to the students. Without context, she was just accusing the Archbishop of treachery.

"Edie! Why are you doing this?! How could you do this?! I thought we were your friends!" Dorothea yelled angrily.

"Were we not trusting enough as comrades for you to betray us like this?!" Petra questioned.

"You would have tried to stop me if you caught wind of my plans. I simply could not allow you get in the way. With all of your questioning, you all proved to be nothing but a nuisance." Edelgard replies coldly.

"How absolutely despicable of you!" Constance yelled. "To think...I believed that you would've restored House Nuvelle. What a fool I would have been if I continued to follow you. Well I will not be fooled! I don't believe you would have bothered!"

Claude couldn't believe what he was witnessing before his very eyes. He didn't think Edelgard would take a route as drastic as this. And to think she'd be associated with these heartless people who resorted in kidnapping, murdering and experimenting on the weak. His paranoia was right about things getting bad, but he didn't think it was something to this extent. And she was willing to hurt everyone? Even her own friends?

" _This is bad. This is seriously really bad. Worse than I believed it to be." Claude says to himself._ The Golden Deer leader then remembered something. _"Bernadetta! Shit, she's still in the mansion! I got to find her! We could stay hidden and get some help!"_

Claude began to scurry back into the mansion to try and find Bernadetta. Hilda and Lorenz were quick to notice their friend leaving them.

"Claude?! Where are you going?!" Hilda questioned.

"Are you seriously leaving us behind at a time like this?! You've got to be kidding me!" Lorenz protests.

Claude was already gone before he could answer them. When he returned, he would have Bernadetta with him, so at least they would understand where he was coming from.

"So when Flayn got kidnapped. You knew where she was the entire time didn't you?! She would have seriously been hurt!" Caspar yells angrily.

"The Remire Village tragedy… It was you! You were part of you! You were part of the slaughter of so many innocent people!" Dimitri roared. "Y-You… You! EDELGARD!" The young prince yelled from the top of his lungs. The Blue Lions were startled by Dimitri's outburst. He didn't sound human anymore. He sounded more like a wild animal. Felix only mouthed "the boar" to Ingrid and Sylvain as if saying "I told you so".

Dimitri wasn't the only one who was furious. Beth was starting to lose her temper upon realizing something.

The female mercenary tightened her fist and gritted her teeth. "Dad… You were cahoots with them to kill my father! You took him away from me and Byleth! Then…" A tear began to fall down Beth's face as she lowered her head. "You tried to pretend that you felt _**SORRY**_ about his death! When you damn well you were part of it!" She screamed.

"Awwwwww. Boo hoo! Do you miss your daddy?" Kronya taunted, pretending to cry. "Ha! He was nothing but a pathetic old dog! And you know what needs to happen to worthless beings like him. They need to be put down. Which is exactly what I did." The girl laughed.

Byleth's face started to turn into something psychotic. His eyes and head began to twitch. Something was starting to snap within the mercenary. Byleth gripped on the Sword of the Creator tightly as the relic weapon glowed dark red. "I finally found you. Father's killer… finally…" Byleth pointed his sword at Kronya. "I will make your death as painful as possible…"

Solon began to laugh. "You can make all the threats you want, boy. It won't bring your father back. Who is probably burning in the deep depths of hell right now." He taunted.

Edelgard raises Aymr. "Today will mark a new day in the Smash Realm! The false Gods will fall and humans will finally be in control of their lives! No more shall we be lied to! No more shall we be controlled like puppets! No more shall we-"

"Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!" Palutena interrupted. "Ugh! Your monologue is so boring! You're such an idiot, you know that? If you honestly think that you and the rest of those jobbers are gonna stand a chance against a trio of Gods, you've clearly haven't done enough homework on your enemies." The Goddess of Light taunted.

"Shut up!" Edelgard yells. "I'm so sick and tired of you running your mouth!" The Adrestian Princess points Aymr at Palutena. "It's because of you that I've lost everything! You've brought this upon yourself!"

"Still blaming others for your own problems. You have to be the most hard-headed mortal I've ever met in my life. It's honestly embarrassing." Palutena shrugs.

"You've humiliated me for long enough! I don't care what it takes anymore! I'm going to kill you! My classmates are useless! You took my retainer! Byleth… I lost Byleth to a filthy sewer rat, a spineless recluse, and that cowardly outsider! He should've chosen ME!" Edelgard yelled from the top of her lungs.

Sothis shakes her head in disgust at Edelgard. "You have absolutely lost it. You are not human anymore. You are nothing but a feral beast. Your mind is completely gone. To work with these monsters. You deserve no sympathy from me. You do not deserve to be saved." She coldly says.

Beth began to laugh maniacally. As she raised her head, Beth's expression was very deranged and unhinged. She continued to laugh and laugh. With her brass knuckles in her hand, the Scarlet Fist cracks her hands.

"I want her dead Byleth. I want them all dead. Especially the bitch that took our father away from us." Beth says in a raspy and low voice. "I won't stop until everyone is lying in the puddle of their blood. Especially Edelgard. I must. Kill. Edelgard." She growled.

"Yes. Everyone must die. Edelgard. Must. Die." Byleth agrees slowly.

Sothis places her hand on the Eisner Twins. "Do what you must. I will do everything in my power to make sure you live through this fight. It is time for retribution. For all of us." The Progenitor God says.

"Kill…" Edelgard points to the Smashers in front of her with Aymr. "Kill every last one of them!" She roared. Those Who Slither in the Dark began to charge at the Smashers. This bloody battle has finally begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes!
> 
> 1\. Felix would be the only one to have a good idea on who Jeritza is due to his C support with Mercedes. Felix tends to be right on his observations but everyone ignores him because of how rude he is about it. He already put two and two together with Jeritza being the Death Knight just by training with him. He can see the similarities between Mercedes and Jeritza so the reveal wouldn't be a surprise to him.
> 
> 2\. If it's not obvious, Edelgard and Dimitri's sanity reversed. Dimitri is able to calm down in the Smash Mansion due to a combination of meeting new people and dating Beth before the timeskip. In contrast, Edelgard had fallen behind on her plan due to believing Smash Brothers was the place that she wished Fodlan was and then Palutena destroyed that. A combination of Palutena bullying her, nearly killing Hubert and then the false assumption about how Byleth's confession went down to start the harem, she has pretty much gone over the deep end faster.
> 
> 3\. Before any Edelgard stan complains about Edelgard's monologue, recall how she acts during the Fire Emblem Heroes Forging Bond event "A New Future". She is given the opportunity to expand her views of Gods and Goddesses and how other heroes view them. Instead, she spends the time chastising Lissa for her belief in Naga and how she doesn't think highly of Alm and Celica for how they view Milla and Duma. She is told that she can talk to Sothis in this world and understand why Fodlan is made the way it is. She chooses not to and says she won't change her views despite it.
> 
> Not to mention in the group forging bonds, when given the option to tell their past selves about what happens in the future and how to prevent it. Byleth is capable of finding a future where everyone wins. Instead, Edelgard is not happy about the idea of such a future where they can prevent war that she started for her resolve. The problem is Edelgard is the only one who benefits from the past not learning since she starts the war and lets it run rampant for 5 years. The writers decide to write Claude out of character and have him agree with Edelgard. Past Claude learning the truth early changes everything because he's capable of applying it to his schemes. Byleth knowing about what will happen can literally save Jeralt, stop him from merging with Sothis and not be in a coma for 5 years. This scene only benefits Edelgard who already knows that her past self won't change and she won't give anyone else a chance to stop the war.
> 
> Apply that to the Smash Brothers realm and you can see Edelgard's single-tracked mindset. Shulk is trying to be friends with her like Lissa in Heroes despite being a God. Edelgard rejects his friendship and only sees him as an enemy. The Black Eagles try to reach out to her and she rejects them. It's that hard-headedness that's going to end badly for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's probably some gore in this chapter so here is a heads up.

"Kill…" Edelgard points to the Smashers in front of her with Aymr. "Kill every last one of them!" She roared. Those Who Slither in the Dark began to charge at the Smashers. This bloody battle has finally begun.

Palutena sighs. "Alright. She made the first move. Now it's my time to embarrass her," The Goddess of Light summons her staff in her hand. She turns her head to Shulk who was still in a state of shock over Edelgard's action. Palutena bonks Shulk on his head with her staff.

"OW!" Shulk cried, rubbing the top of his head in pain. He turns to Palutena. "What?!"

"Watch and learn Monado Boy. While you stand there and reflect on your stupidity," Palutena places her hand on her chest and gives a condescending grin. "I, Palutena, the Goddess of Light, smarter than the God with future vision will handle this with relative ease. Also while I'm at it. I was right and you were wrong! Ha!" The Goddess started to laugh.

Shulk tightened his fist in anger. It was bad enough that Edelgard was going through with this evil plan, now he had to deal with Palutena's mockery. He hated it. Seeing that shit eating grin and hearing that mocking laugh only made the foreseer look like an absolute clown.

"Damn it…" Shulk cursed.

Palutena turns to Rosalina. "Rosa, why don't you just stand back and watch for this one?" She suggests.

Rosalina tilts her head in confusion. "You do not require my assistance? You are confident you will have no issues?" She questions.

"Just leave it to me dear. No need to waste your time on such small fry. Besides, I don't need to move from where we are to handle these losers." Palutena smirked. The Goddess of Light turns to Sothis. "Don't waste your powers loli girl. You have to save it for your revenge right?"

Sothis eyes widened in shock. After their initial tea time with the Goddess of Light, she didn't expect her to bother to fight Those Who Slithers in the Dark. Not like the Progenitor God doubted Palutena's power. She sensed that the Goddess was powerful and could easily dispatch the Agarthans herself. Sothis nods to Palutena.

"Stand back. Just leave things to Palutena. She will ensure no harm comes to anyone." Sothis tells the Eisner Twins.

Despite how much the twins wanted their revenge, they took their guardian's advice and relent for now until it was time.

Those Who Slither in the Dark were inching closer to the mansion with their weapons raised. Most of the students of Garreg Mach were beginning to grow fearful, but Palutena stood confidently in front of everyone.

"Explosive Flame!" Palutena screams. The Goddess of Light points her staff forward and blows up a crowd of Agarthans. Palutena continued to use her Explosive Flame to burn down the approaching Agarthans. With only a single action, Palutena was already able to take out almost half of Those Who Slither in the Dark.

Thales watched in anger at how easily his army was being taken care of. He thought this would've been an easy task, but he and especially Edelgard clearly miscalculated the situation.

Palutena smirked. "That's not all I can do. Here's something I don't usually do. My Heavenly Light!" She cheered.

Shulk looks at the Goddess of Light in confusion. "What?! You're not serious are you?! That attack is useless!"

"That's because you've only seen it during Smash battles," Palutena corrects. "Master Hand and Crazy Hand are very well aware of how powerful my Heavenly Light is. Just watch what it could do outside of it. Especially to evil beings such as these jobbers." The Goddess grinned.

Palutena raises her staff into the air and summons a ray of light from the sky that covers the area where the Agarthans were. The Heavenly Light stopped them in their tracks. The Agarthans looked at themselves in horror as their skins began to melt off their bodies. Those Who Slither in the Dark screamed in their agony as their bodies burned until they were reduced to nothing but skeletons.

Palutena had defeated Those Who Slither in the Dark army all by herself. The Foldlaners couldn't believe it. Shulk especially couldn't believe it. Seeing Heavenly Light during the last time, he believed that it was all just for show that Palutena was the Goddess of Light. Seeing it now without the restrictions simply astonished them as much as he didn't want to admit it to Palutena. He didn't want to give Palutena more to gloat about.

Thales, Kronya, and Solon witnessed their entire race burn in front of their very eyes. Their entire plan of invasion had fallen apart by one single Goddess they knew nothing about. Edelgard especially wasn't happy about what had transpired. Palutena had embarrassed her once again.

"Impossible!" Thales growled.

Palutena waves over to the group. "Hey! Was that really all you had?" She taunted. "You know, mass genocide wasn't in my resume in things I've achieved. So I really appreciate you for giving me another thing to brag about. Ahahahaha." Palutena did a very snobbish laugh.

"Shut up!" Edelgard growled. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! This is not over! I will kill you myself if it's the last thing I do! I have the power to wipe that smirk off your face!" The Imperial Princess raises her relic weapons.

Palutena wiggles her hand by her face, pretending she was frightened. "Ohhhh~ Scary~ Pwease don't kill wittle ol' me." She sarcastically says.

Solon walks over to his Thales. "What shall we do? Shall we release the Javelins of Light?" He whispers suggested.

"Yes! Solon! Use your magic! Release the Javelins of Light!" Thales commanded.

Dark magic began to emit from Solon's hand. The dark mage raises his hands in the air and shoots out black lightning in the air. The lightning strikes something beyond the forest. Suddenly three Javelins of Light shoot up into the sky.

Sothis looks up into the sky. "What in the world is that?!"

Thales began to laugh. "Once these Javelins of Light land in this area, you're finished. It will render you to nothing but dust once they hit. Your fate has been sealed, fools!" He declared.

All the Garreg Mach Students started to huddle up together in fear of their impending doom.

Beth growled. "Is there anything we can do about these things?!" She screams.

Lady Rhea thought of a way that she could potentially stop these Javelines of Light. However, this would come at the cost of revealing her true form amongst her students and the Eisner Twins. A secret that she, Seteth, and Flayn vowed to never reveal to anyone. But she realized that the safe of her family and her people was more important at this moment. She would have to transform to her form if she was going to stop these Javelines of Light.

But before Lady Rhea could do anything, Palutena suddenly speaks up as she turns to the Fodlaners.

"Easy everyone," Palutena says confidently, putting her hand up. "I know that missile looks kind of scary, and it is. But there's really nothing to worry about here, especially when we're around." Palutena turns to Rosalina. "Rosa darling. I know I said I could do this on my own, but I might need a little assistance with those three missiles. Do you mind?" She asks.

"Leave it to me. No harm will come to anyone here." Rosalina replied.

The Space Goddess takes out her wand and uses Gravitational Pull to absorb all three Javelins of Light into a void, making them all disappear in an instant. The Fodlaners were amazed by the Space Goddess' immense power. Their fears dwindled away when they realized that the two Goddesses had them protected.

Rhea especially was in awe at the power of Palutena and Rosalina. She always believed that her mother was the only all powerful God. The archbishop sees now that there are deities that rival the power of the Progenitor God.

"Incredible…" Lady Rhea muttered.

"The Gods of this realm are truly remarkable! Just like that, our lives are now safe!" Flayn states.

"Maybe we are in good hands after all." Seteth says.

Thales stomps his feet angrily. "No! No! No! You weren't supposed to do that! No one was supposed to destroy our ultimate weapon!" He complains.

"Ha! Rosalina's Gravitational Pull went WOOSH!" Palutena grinned. "I guess now that you're all out of ideas. Sothis, how about you go ahead and get your retribution? You and the twins deserve it."

"Useless. All of you." Edelgard mutters under her breath. "I will handle things myself."

Edelgard begins to march towards the Smash Mansion, her hand gripping tightly on Aymr. Meanwhile, the three remaining Agarthans stood back lost on what to do now.

"Have we lost? Just like that?!" Kronya asks.

"No! I refuse to believe so!" Solon yells. Dark magic starts to form around his hand. "I still have one more magic trick to drown all these fools in darkness! The Agarthans shall not fa-AGH!" The dark mage's stops as he suddenly feels something pierce through him.

Thales and Kronya jump away in surprise from the sudden attack. They look on as their fellow subordinate had been stabbed through the stomach by Byleth's Sword of the Creator. Byleth stared down at the feeble old man with a stoic and emotionless glare. Sothis was floating beside Byleth and looked down at Solon with a look of disgust.

Solon looked up at the mercenary and Progenitor God with blood dripping out the side of his mouth. "Y-You...Agh!" The dark mage coughs up more blood as Byleth pushes the Sword of the Creator deeper through his body.

"For the people you harmed in Remire Village. For abducting my granddaughter Flayn. Death is the only punishment you deserve." Sothis says coldly.

Beth walks up from behind Byleth and Sothis. The female mercenary bore a wide grin across her face as she fist bumps her brass knuckles together to unleash the spikes from them. She punches Solon in the eyes with her spiked fists, gouging his eyes as she released her hand from his face. Byleth takes out the Sword of the Creator out of Solon and lets his lifeless body fall to the ground as puddles of blood begin to flow around him.

Solon and Kronya slowly walked back away from the scene. They realized that they would soon be next.

"What do we do?" Kronya asks worriedly.

Thales wasn't sure what he could do at this point. He needed something. Something to give him some sort of leverage over the Eisner Twins and Sothis. Without much thought, Thales shoots dark magic at the side of the mansion to destroy part of the mansion. To his surprise, he sees two students who were alone together in a room. The Agarthan grinned. Something to finally give him an advantage.

"I have a plan." Thales says.

The Agarthan uses his dark magic to trap the two students in a force field and begins to pull them over to him. The rest of the Garreg Mach students look over to see that it was Claude and an unconscious Bernadetta that were trapped in the force field.

"H-Hey! What's going on here?! A little help here please!" Claude screamed.

"Claude!" The Golden Deer students screamed in horror.

"Bernadetta!" The Black Eagles (minus Hubert) screamed.

Thales holds the two students over him. "You two will be perfect bargaining tools." He grinned.

Claude looks to the Agarthans. He points over to Kronya. "You. You were the one who was posing as Monica." Then he looks over to Thales. "You must be the head honcho here. What do you want with me and Bernadetta?"

"Quiet worm!" Kronya demanded. "Unless you don't want your dear professors to see your intestines spilling from your guts." She threatens.

"What?!" Claude looks up to see the Eisner Twins and Sothis. "Byleth! Beth!" He called.

The trio turns to see the Agarthans holding their fellow students.

"Bernadetta!" Byleth screams.

"Claude!" Beth screams.

"Release those mortals right now!" Sothis demanded.

"You are in no position to bargain against us when I hang the lives of your pathetic students in my hands. Now I would suggest you back off! Or else their blood is going to be in your hands." Thales says.

"You have about ten seconds to let go of my brother and sister in law before you end up like that old man." Beth says in a low tone.

Byleth gripped tightly on his Creator Sword and slammed the whip portion onto the ground."And that's not a threat. It's a promise!" He yelled angrily.

"Oh, you think you're going to give me a painful death? That's cute. I'll make you suffer like I did to your precious Daddy." Kronya taunted.

"If you refuse to give into our demands, then I will kill them." Thales says.

"You bastard! You're sick!" Hilda screamed at Thales.

"You will not get away with your vile actions! Our professors will make you pay for harming our friends!" Lorenz declared.

"Silence!" Thales screamed. "Before you end up just like them!"

Claude begins to laugh. "You think you got it all figured out do you? That you've got one over us? Not likely you paled faced clown." He insulted.

"What are you talking about?!" Thales questions.

"SONIC! NOW!" Claude calls.

Suddenly, two red arms wearing spiked gloves come from under the ground and grab Thales' legs.

Thales looks down at his legs. "What is this?! Why can't I move?!" The Agarthan struggled to get out of the mystery person's grasp.

On the roof of the mansion, Sonic sees that Thales was unable to move. He smiles. "Knuckles got him locked down. That's my cue to hop in."

Sonic hops off the roof and boosts dash towards Thales. He revs up into a ball and hits Thales in the stomach with a Homing Attack, knocking him down on his back. The force field disappears from around Claude and Bernadetta. Sonic catches Bernadetta while Knuckles comes out from the ground and catches Claude.

"Sonic. Knuckles. Thanks for your help, really." Claude says.

"I told you I would come help ya," Sonic winks. "Let's get you back to your friends." The blue hedgehog rushes to the Garreg Mach Students and gives Bernadetta to Yuri.

"Thank you, hedgehog." Yuri nods.

Sonic shrugs. "Just doing what I do." He replies.

Knuckles brings Claude over to the Golden Deer students. "There you go. Not a scratch on him." He says.

Hilda quickly rushes over to Claude and hugs him. "Claude! You dummy! You had us worried! Don't ever do something stupid like that again!"

"H-Hey, easy there Hilda. I had everything down under control. It was all part of my plan." Claude tried to reassure.

"What you did was absolutely foolish! First you run away making us believe you were a coward! Then you get yourself almost killed! Did you honestly believe everything would just simply work out for you?!" Lorenz scolded.

Claude smirked at the noble. "Concerned for me now huh Lorenz? That's a first from you."

"We all were concerned for you, you idiot! How could you possibly still joke at a time like this when you almost died?!" Lysithea says.

Claude puts his hands up. "Okay. I'm sorry. Can you all stop yelling at me now?"

During all of this, Kronya had her focus on her knocked out superior. Before she could go over to him, she felt something wrap around her neck.

"Gaaaaah! W-What?! W-What is t-t-this?!" Kronya choked.

Byleth was using the whip part of the Sword of the Creator to choke Kronya. He pulls his sword down to make Kronya fall down on her back.

"L-Let me g-go! Ack! L-Let me goooooo!" The Agarthan screamed.

"You… took him away from us," Byleth started. "You killed my father. He's done nothing to you! And you killed him in cold blood! You will not escape. Not this time. This time, I will kill you." He uttered.

Kronya could the pressure of the Sword of the Creator tightening around her neck. She puts her hand around neck, desperately trying to gasp for her.

"S-Stop! S-S-S-Stop! Ack! P-Please!" Kronya begged.

Beth walks over to Kronya and bends to the struggling Agarthan. "What's this? Begging for your life? After what you did, you expect us to just suddenly show mercy?" The female mercenary began to laugh maniacally. "Not likely." She revealed a sadistic grin.

Beth punches through Kronya's chest. She starts pulling onto something from inside the Agarthan's body. Kronya began to cry.

"H-Help me…" Kronya muttered. Tears began to fall down her eyes as they started to roll to the back of her head.

"What happened to all that talk about making us suffer?" Beth taunted. "You took our dad away from us. It's only right that we repay the favor and take something of yours."

Beth rips Kronya's heart from out of her chest and throws it to the ground. Byleth finishes it off by pulling the Sword of the Creator to pull off Kronya's head from her body. Blood began to spurt out from the Agarthan's body, some of it landing on the Eisner's Twins faces. Byleth and Beth stood over the body of their father's killer with hatred but fulfillment. Byleth's face was twisting in anger while Beth's had a sinister smile on her face.

They have avenged Jeralt, but it wasn't over yet. They turn their attention to Thales. The one who sealed the fate of their father's deaths. They slowly walked over to the Agarthan as he began to regain consciousness and slowly get up from the ground.

Once Thales got to his feet. Sothis uses her Time's Pulse to freeze Thales in place.

"There is no escape. It's over Thales. You've lost. You will now perish with the rest of your race. For murdering my children. For harming the people of Fodlan. You will draw your last breath today." Sothis says.

"This...isn't over. You haven't seen the last of us Progenitor God! The Agarthans will have the last laugh!" Thales declared.

"Finish him." Sothis commanded.

Byleth raises the Sword of the Creator and cuts his head off with the sword. As the head rolled over to the Eisner Twin's feet, Beth placed her foot on Thales' head and stomped on it, crushing it.

"It's over." Beth muttered. The female mercenary looks over to her brother who was looking up at the sky. "Byleth?" She calls.

"Father, I'm sorry we couldn't save you. But we have avenged your death. You can rest in peace now." Byleth says to himself. He looks down sadly.

Beth places her hand on Byleth's shoulder. "It's gonna be alright brother. However, it ain't over yet. We still have one more person to take care of."

The Eisner Twins and Sothis turn around and see Edelgard engaging in battle with Palutena. Edelgard swung Amyr three times at Palutena, but the Goddess of Light easily blocked the attacks with her shield. The whole time, Palutena had the biggest grin on her face. This was all just a game to her at this point.

Palutena puts her hand over her mouth and yawns. "I'm honestly getting tired of you now. I thought you'd put up more of a fight with how much you hate me. You have to be out of ideas with that big forehead of yours." She taunted.

Edelgard growled. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The Imperial Princess swings Amyr at Palutena again, but the Goddess once again blocks it with her shield.

"Lost your friends. I've destroyed your retainer's integrity. Not like he had any to begin with. You've lost your little love interest. You have no shred of dignity left. You're much more of a wild animal now. Or a crybaby. Either or works for me." Palutena shrugs.

"You've taken everything from me! Everything!" Edelgard screamed. Amyr started to glow red in her hand. "I will kill you! I'll make sure you end up worse than your angel!" Edelgard uses every ounce of her power into this swing of Amyr.

Palutena uses her shield to parry the attack, but this time, the relic weapon breaks. Edelgard gasps in shock at the relic weapon breaking. But how could that be? These weapons were made to slay Gods. How could they have broken so easily she wondered to herself?

Palutena glared down at Edelgard with a more serious expression. "Don't. Put. My child's name. In your mouth."

Palutena raises her staff and swings it right across Edelgard's face, making her fall down to the ground. Before the Adrestian Princess could even think of getting back up, Palutena hits her in the back of the head with her staff to knock her back down.

"Palutena stop it! She's had enough! Leave her alone!" Shulk screamed.

Palutena raises her staff to prepare to smash Edelgard's head in, but Sothis stops her mid swing.

"This is not your vengeance. This is ours. Remember?" Sothis says.

Palutena lowers her staff and calms herself. "You're right. I got a little too ahead of myself. Please by all means. Do your thing." The Goddess smiled. Palutena backs away, leaving the Eisner Twins and Sothis with Edelgard.

The trio look down at the fallen princess on her knees. Edelgard looks up at the trio with blood starting to drip down from her head.

Sothis shakes her head at Edelgard. "You disgust me. I once thought better of you. But now I see that you're just as evil as the Agarthans." She states.

Edelgard sneers at Sothis. "Curse you Goddess. This is all your fault. If you had just let mortals live life the way they pleased, none of this would've happened." She then looks over to Byleth. "Why? Why couldn't you have joined the Empire?! If you would've joined me, you would have understood the world I was trying to create for everyone! You should have been with me! Not Claude! Me! I was the one who loved you more!" She screamed.

Byleth and Beth just continued to give Edelgard a stoic glare.

"You've betrayed Fodlan! You've disrespected my mother! You've aligned yourself with those terrorists! You deserve no right to live! Byleth, kill her at once! She must be punished for her sins!" Lady Rhea demanded.

"Wait? We're just going to kill her? Just like that? Is there no other way?" Flayn questions.

"There is another way. Killing is not the only way we can solve this. If we kill her in the same vein as she tried to kill us, we would not be any better than she is." Seteth says.

"Do you know how idiotic you sound?" Yuri says to Seteth. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually agree with something from Rhea. Edelgard deserves to die. Look at what she did to Bernadetta! You think she deserves a second chance? You're a fool."

"I'm with the boss here. The imperial lady has got to go. She's nothing but bad news for everyone." Balthus says.

"Deplorable. Evil. Sickening. There's too many words to describe my absolute hatred towards Edelgard! She was going to kill us all! It is only fair that we kill her!" Constance says.

"This shouldn't even be an argument. Just kill her." Hapi says coldly.

"We should think more about this!" Lysithea tried to argue.

"Think?!" Hilda yells. "She worked with those evil freaks who were hurting innocent people! Not only that, she almost had Claude killed! There's clearly nothing to think about! Execution is exactly the answer!"

"I simply agree. Off with her." Lorenz says.

"Such a vile creature deserves no right to live! Cut her head off! Do not hesitate! I want to see her head hanging off the Gates of Embarr! Kill her!" Dimitri screamed.

"You leave her alone, you vile animal!" Hubert screamed.

Caspar pushes Hubert. "You got some nerve to talk when you knew what was going from the start! That Goddess lady should've killed you! Edelgard deserves to die!"

Ferdinand comes in between Caspar and Hubert. "Caspar, cease!"

"Ferdie, how could you defend him after all that's happened?! Have you lost your mind?!" Dorothea screamed.

All the Fodlanders continued to argue amongst each other. Claude wasn't sure what to feel about what was unfolding. He wasn't happy with what Edelgard had done, but he didn't want her to die. He thought there had to be more to what was going on. There had to be a reason why Edelgard was doing this. She couldn't be that malicious. Claude looks over to Byleth, Beth, and Sothis still looking down at Edelgard.

"What are you waiting for?! Kill me! KILL ME!" Edelgard screamed in a deranged tone.

"Kill her." Beth says coldly to her brother.

Byleth begins to raise his sword above him. This was it. The final vision Shulk saw. It was all coming true before his very eyes. Edelgard was going to die. Shulk wanted to jump in and stop this, but Palutena put her staff in front of Shulk.

"Ah. Ah. Ah. This is personal business Shulk." Palutena says.

"No!" Shulk screamed.

"Byleth don't!" Claude screams.

Byleth still had his eyes set on Edelgard, but instead of cutting her down, he lowered his sword to the shock of everyone.

Edelgard looks up at Byleth with confusion. "What?"

Beth turns to her brother in disbelief. "Byleth? What's wrong?"

Byleth sighs. He turns to Palutena. "Lady Palutena. Do you have somewhere in the mansion where you can lock someone up?"

Palutena raises her eyebrow. "You mean like solitary confinement? We don't, but we can certainly make one. Why is that?"

"I want Edelgard locked up. Lock her away from everyone. So she won't hurt anybody ever again." Byleth suggests.

"Are you serious?!" Beth yells. "Byleth, she worked with the people who killed our dad. She tried to hurt all of our friends! Claude and Bernadetta were abducted and almost killed! Why are you letting her live?!"

"I…" Byleth sighs. "I just want to know why she did it. I hate her Beth. I'll never forgive her. But, I need answers. I think locking her away from society in punishment enough for Edelgard. Maybe she'll repent. I don't know." Byleth looks over to Beth and Sothis. "Please, just give this a chance."

Beth looks to Sothis. "Sothis? Are you okay with this?" She asks their guardian.

"To give you the honest truth, I'm not happy with Byleth's decision. However, if he believes that there may be some sort of benefit to this. We should take his word and give it a chance." Sothis answered.

Beth sighs. She turns her attention back to her brother. "Alright. I'm not happy about it, but I trust you."

Byleth smiles at Beth and hugs her. "Thank you sister." Beth hugs her brother back.

Unbeknownst to the twins, Edelgard pulls out a dagger from her pocket and stabs Byleth on his back, making the mercenary cry in pain. Beth lets go of Byleth and angrily knees Edelgard in the jaw to knock her back down to the ground. She then knocks Edelgard out with a right hook to her face with her brass knuckles.

Sothis floats over to Byleth with concern in her eyes. "Byleth! Are you okay?!"

Byleth winces in pain. "Y-Yeah… I'll be fine." The mercenary pulls the dagger from out of his back and throws it down to the ground. He looks down to the unconscious Edelgard with an expression of regret. Even after giving her mercy, she still attempted to try and kill him.

Beth spits on Edelgard's face. She looks over to the Gods and Fodlaners looking at her. "Hey! Clean this garbage up! It stinks!" She pointed to Edelgard.

Byleth, Beth, and Sothis begin to make their way back to the mansion. As the Fodlaners gave them space to enter, Shulk suddenly stopped Byleth for a moment.

"Thank you so much Byleth. You did the right thing." Shulk smiled.

Byleth looks over to Shulk with a saddened look. "Did I? Or am I just a fool for believing that she could change?" He replied.

The trio enter inside of the mansion, leaving the Gods to deal with Edelgard themselves.

* * *

It is now night time in the Smash Realm. Things have calmed down since the events of the morning, but there was still a lot of intensity between the Fodlaners. The Garreg Mach students are all in their rooms reflecting on Edelgard's actions as well as Byleth's decision to spare her. Some were disappointed. Others were relieved. Some still didn't know how to feel.

The Black Eagles especially were in a crossroads with each other. Their former class leader had tried to kill them all. With the exception of Linhardt, none of them wanted anything to do with Hubert either because he was an accomplice. Even going as far as to ban him from ever entering the room again. While Hubert's dark magic had been taken away by Palutena, Ferdinand still took it upon himself to try and look after Hubert. The rest of the Black Eagles had now looked to Ferdinand for some sort of leadership. Only Linhardt had a vague understanding of why Ferdinand would go out of his way to stand up for Hubert despite treating him horribly since the start of the academy year.

The Blue Lions weren't faring any better about the situation. They had seen their house leader show his feral side again just like he did in Remire Village. Dimitri wasn't in the room with his fellow classmates, but he was with Beth. While Felix was more than happy to gloat about how Dimitri was turning into the "boar prince" he always knew he was, the rest of the Blue Lions all felt uneasy about their friend. They also weren't too pleased by Byleth's decision to keep Edelgard alive after all she's done. Most (with the exception of Mercedes, Ashe, and Annette) felt death was all the Adrestian Princess deserved.

Even the Golden Deers weren't handling things the best. There was discourse amongst the students. Hilda, Lorenz, and Leonie were arguing with Lysithea and surprisingly enough Ignatz about Byleth's decision to keep Edelgard alive. After Edelgard allowed Those Who Slither in the Dark to kill both Claude and Bernadetta, Hilda and Lorenz at that point felt there should be retribution. That just locking her up wasn't enough for her to pay for her crimes. Leonie was the most vocal about wanting Edelgard dead. While she wasn't directly involved in Jeralt's death, Leonie didn't believe that Edelgard deserved a second chance. Not after working with the people who killed her hero.

Lysithea continued to argue that there's more to Edelgard's actions than what everyone sees. However, the young girl didn't go too deep into the reason why she thought so. Lysithea thinks Byleth had made the right choice and her getting locked up means that they could get more information on Edelgard's actions. Ignatz agreed with Lysithea's statements. Also arguing that rehabilitation is possible after a long time of reflection. Edelgard was going to be locked away from everyone, so she can't harm anybody.

Claude, Marianne, and Raphael just looked on in silence at their classmates and friends arguing amongst each other. Claude wanted to put his two cents on why sparing Edelgard was the right choice, but he knew that it wouldn't really stop the shouting match his students were having. Seeing his classmates fighting amongst each other was something the Almyran was not used to. The Golden Deers were usually the more leveled headed and light hearted house. Now here they were fighting with each other. It wasn't a good feeling, but he wasn't too sure how to stop the arguing himself. Claude decides to leave the room to get a clear head.

As he begins to walk down the hallway, he sees Byleth walking down the other side of the hallway. Claude couldn't help but feel a little fearful of the mercenary after seeing how gruesome he and his sister could be when they killed Kronya and Thales. It made him think what would happen if Byleth or Beth ever went off the deep end. Worse, what if they directed that anger toward him. Yes, he has started to be more truthful toward his fiance, but there were still things he couldn't talk about when it concerned Almyra.

"H-Hey, Byleth." Claude nervously calls and waves.

Byleth looks up at Claude with the familiar stoic and blank expression that Byleth was known for. "Claude." He replies bluntly.

"Where are you headed off to?" Claude asks.

"To meet with Edelgard. I must speak with her."

"I see…" Claude laughs nervously. The two just stared at each other for a few seconds before Byleth started walking past Claude. The Almyran extends his hand. "Byleth…"

"You don't have to hide it from me Claude. You're afraid of me. I don't blame you if you want to keep your distance from me. I'm sorry for scaring you." Byleth says.

Claude's eyes widened in surprise at Byleth's statement. "Am I really that easy to read?" He looks away from Byleth. "It's… a little more complicated than you think."

"Then tell me when you're ready. Don't force anything. I'll wait."

Byleth then continues his walk down the hallway, leaving Claude with his own thoughts.

Claude sighs and runs his hand through his hair. _"I'm such a child. Being scared like this about my fiance. The guy who saved my life. The guy I… love. What's wrong with me?"_ He pondered.

* * *

Bernadetta finally started to open her eyes and come to. She looks around and finds herself laying on a purple bean bag bed.

"W-What? Ow…" The young girl groans in pains as she rubs the back of her head. She sits up on the bean bag bed. "What happened?" Bernadetta wondered.

"You're finally awake." Yuri says.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Bernadetta screams. She then sees Yuri sitting on a couch with Constance and Balthus, while Hapi is sitting on her own bean bag bed.

"Welcome back to us Bernie Bear. You really had us worried." Hapi says.

"Where am I?" Bernadetta asks.

"You're in our basement pad. We've been looking after you while you were unconscious." Constance answers.

"I'm glad to see you're okay little lady. Yuri was all worked up about you. He didn't wanna leave you until you were all better." Balthus says.

Bernadetta looks over at her childhood friend in shock. "You were...concerned about me?"

"Of course I was. How do you expect to have a future with Byleth and me if you died?" Yuri sighed. "Even at this age, you still need me to watch over you. The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Bernadetta then gasps as she remembers something important before she passed out. "Where is Byleth?! I have to tell him that Edelgard is-"

"The Flame Emperor," Constance finishes. "We know Bernadetta."

"Lots of crazy things happened while you were unconscious. No need to worry about it now though. Byleth and Beth took care of things. They even saved you." Balthus says.

"They...did?" Bernadetta asks.

"Of course they did. Byleth is your husband and Beth is your soon to be sister in law. Why would they not?" Hapi says.

"We care about you Bernadetta," Yuri states. "You need to stop doubting us. I… honestly wouldn't know what to do if I had lost you. We've only just rekindled after all. Byleth and Beth would be equally as devastated if you were killed. If you're still afraid of me by this point, then I don't know what else to-"

Yuri stops mid sentence when he feels Bernadetta suddenly embrace him. This caught him by surprise. This was the first time that Bernadetta actually wanted to be closer to him. He then starts to hear Bernadetta whimper.

"I-I'm sorry…" Bernadetta cries. "I've treated you so badly. I-I'll...I'll try my best to be more comfortable with you. I did miss you a lot Yuri. I want to be a good husband to both you and Byleth. I'll even try to be nicer to Beth. J-Just please… don't leave Bernie ever again." She continued to whimper.

Yuri hugs Bernadetta back. He wasn't really the best at comforting others usually, but he didn't care at the moment. What was important was that Bernadetta was okay.

"Do you uh… need a bit of private time, boss?" Balthus asks.

"We don't want to ruin such a personal moment between you two. We could leave if you wish." Constance says.

"It's fine. I think having us all here to comfort Bernadetta should be good." Yuri answers.

"We'll be here to support you and Bernie Bear, Yuri Bird." Hapi says.

* * *

Beth and Dimitri are together in the Eisner Twins room. The two were sitting on Beth's bed with Dimitri sitting at the edge of the bed while Beth is behind Dimitri with her arms wrapped around him. The female mercenary has been using this time to comfort her boyfriend during his mental breakdowns due to Edelgard's actions in the morning. Thankfully, Dimitri hasn't done anything drastic. Beth thought it would be best for Dimitri to stay with her for the rest of the day to make sure he wouldn't lose it again.

"All of those innocent people in Remire Village… She knew. Then she looked me in my eyes to try and pretend that she was concerned. She lied to me. She lied to us all…" Dimitri digs his nails on his legs.

Beth begins to slowly rock Dimitri side to side. "It's okay Dima. It's okay. Take your time. I'm here for you. Just let it all out." She cooed.

"I'm sorry for taking up your time like this Beth. It's not fair to you." Dimitri frowned.

"Nonsense. You need someone right now. I'm willing to stay with you for as long as I need to until you feel better," Beth gives Dimitri a kiss on the cheek. "I'm not the best at comforting others, but I'll be here for any kind of support you need. Just take your time."

"Thank you Beth. My beloved."

"Just make sure you take some time to talk to Seteth, alright? He's a better listener than I am. I'm sure he'll also understand you better." Beth suggests.

Beth and Dimitri then hear a knock on the door. "Come in." Beth says.

Palutena enters the room. "Hey there. I'm not interrupting the lovely couple am I?" She asks.

Dimitri shakes his head. "Not at all. Lady Palutena, was it? I want to thank you for saving us all from those people." The young prince bows.

"It's my job to make sure everything is in order," Palutena shrugs. "Hmm, I'm not sensing Sothis' prescenes in this room. Where is she?" She asks Beth.

"She's with Rhea and the rest of the Church of Seiros. She wanted to spend this time with her children and followers. You really did a lot for us Palutena. I'm not sure what we could do to repay you." Beth says.

"I can think of a number of things, but I won't bother you with it. Just keep being you and stay on my good side." Palutena says.

Suddenly, Shulk comes rudely bursting through Beth's room door. He did not look happy in the slightest. He quickly directed his anger at Palutena and walked over to her.

"Are you proud of yourself?! Are you proud of what happened?!" Shulk starts to yell.

"Oh sure Shulk, of course you can enter into my room with no permission." Beth muttered sarcastically to herself.

Palutena rolls her eyes at Shulk. "What are you complaining about now? Edelgard is alive isn't she? You got lucky that Byleth chose to spare her and lock her up. Better than her getting killed as you thought would happen. While I personally don't agree with the decision, I respect it. So why are you yelling at me again?"

"Because if it wasn't for you being so distasteful, disrespectful, and cruel, none of this wouldn't have happened! Edelgard wouldn't have gone down the path that she did if just for once you finally decided to have some humility and respect for others! I could have saved Edelgard! But you just kept pushing her to her breaking point! This is your fault!" Shulk angrily ranted.

Palutena just raises her eyebrow at Shulk. "Are you done with your bitching? Now let me explain once again why you're wrong once again. She was planning to take down the Church of Seiros in her world. That was the goal until she got summoned here to the Smash Realm, which put a stop to that."

"So she was working with them from the start…" Dimitri spoke up. "She was planning something behind our backs the entire time, and we all didn't know. If we hadn't been summoned here in the Smash Realm, I wonder what could have happened to us all…" He pondered.

"And instead of trying to talk her out of her plan, you decided it would be better to reinforce her plan instead. And then you wonder why humanity in your world is tired of you." Shulk continued to argue.

Palutena crossed her arms unamused. "I only need to keep humanity safe. I don't need to help humanity on a smaller scale. They all have a brain. You have a brain too, but you enjoy shutting it off when it's convenient for you."

"At least I have empathy…" Shulk muttered. "With that attitude, I can't imagine gaining allies in the long run."

Normally, this would be the point where Alvis would tell Shulk that he needs to stop arguing, but he understood why the God of Fate was like this. He still believed that the many deaths on Bionis and Mechonis could have been prevented if he was more open-minded to speaking to the other person and reaching his hand out to them. Palutena was too full of herself to understand Shulk's POV.

" _ **Shulk,"**_ Alvis whispers to the Homs. _**"I understand how you feel, but this is not an argument that you can win."**_

The Homs only frowned. Palutena didn't quite hear what Alvis said, but she noted how Shulk finally relented. He gritted his teeth, but nothing came out of his mouth. Instead, he looked to Beth.

"I'm sorry for barging into your room. I'll remember to knock next time." With that, Shulk leaves Beth's room.

Palutena shrugs. "He'll get over it." She says.

* * *

As requested by Byleth, Master Hand and Crazy Hand have created a prison to lock up Edelgard. The only way this prison could be asked was through a portal, similar to the Gates of Hell. The prison was the Velvet Room that Ren found himself in a number of times.

Edelgard is sitting in her cells. She had on a straight jacket, but her legs were free. She had a black eye and a busted up lip courtesy of the blows Beth delivered to her. Her hair was messy and was hanging over her face, covering her eyes. She sat on the floor in silence with her eyes closed. She began to hear the sound of footsteps, someone was coming to see her. Edelgard looks up to see Byleth looking back at her outside of the cell.

Edelgard turns away from the mercenary. "What do you want…?"

"I came for answers. Nothing more," Byleth replies bluntly. "You can tell me the reason why you did it or you can ignore me. The choice is yours."

Edelgard looks back at Byleth. "I wanted a world. A world...where Gods weren't in charge of our lives. We've had our lives predetermined for us because of these Gods, which has done more harm than good to us. I wanted to abolish such a belief. Something better for everyone."

"And you thought working with those monsters would give you what you want?"

"They gave me an offer for a better world. I took it. Simple as that."

"So killing innocent people? Kidnapping Flayn? Killing my father? It all didn't matter to you. Do you feel no remorse for what you've done?" Byleth questioned.

Edelgard sneered. "What would you know? You have a Goddess controlling you like a puppet. You don't understand. I thought you did, I truly hoped you would. If you would have chosen to follow me, you would've understood why I had to do it. I admired you so much, my professor. But you disregarded my feelings and gave it to someone else. I couldn't stand seeing you with Claude. You should've walked my path."

"If I had chosen your class back then, would you have told me what you were planning?" Byleth asks. Edelgard then falls silent and turns away from Byleth. The mercenary shakes his head. "I figured as much. Even if I had joined your class, I wouldn't agree with what you were doing. We don't share the same beliefs, Edelgard. I also could never love someone who doesn't even love herself." He says.

Edelgard could feel her heart aching about Byleth's statement of not loving her. She had heard enough. "Just leave me alone. I would rather rot in this cell to die…" She says.

Byleth sighs and begins to make his way out of the prison. As he was beginning to leave, Beth and Dimitri entered the prison. "Did you get the answers you were looking for?" Beth asks.

Byleth nods his head. "I did. I'm going back up to check on Bernadetta. Beth, do not kill her." He tells his sister.

"Yeah I know. I made a promise to you after all."

Byleth enters the portal and leaves the Velvet Room. Beth and Dimitri walk up to Edelgard's cell. Edelgard looks up at the two, giving them both a cold glare.

"A fitting place for a vile beast such as yourself." Dimitri coldly says.

"The prison guard gave me the key to your cell." Beth takes out the key from her pocket and opens Edelgard's cell. "Said I got a few minutes of visiting time. A few minutes with you is all I need. To give you a fucking beating." The female mercenary grinned, cracking her knuckles.

Beth slowly approached Edelgard, making the Adrestian Princess tremble in fear. She was confined in the straight jacket, so there was not much she could do to defend herself. She was forced to take whatever beating Beth had stored for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes!
> 
> 1\. Heavenly Light is a really useless skill not just in Smash but it's not great in Uprising either. It felt more like it was for show despite the chip damage it does. But if it doesn't even flinch an enemy in Uprising, it's not all that effective. But underground beings are weak to light, so it would be effective on Slithers.
> 
> 2\. Rosalina does not care about your missiles. She sees anything and she is just gonna gravitational pull it out of existence. Ness mains see that and cry.
> 
> 3\. Originally, Shulk was gonna heal from the back, but if Palutena is soloing everything, there was no need for him to do anything that could solidify his status as a God amongst Palutena and Rosalina. He'll have another chance to shine.
> 
> 4\. There are way more ways Kronya's execution could have played out. That would require most of the damage be done by Byleth. Both twins needed to deal a fatal blow to her. Either way, the twins got justice this time.
> 
> 5\. One of the biggest flaws in Crimson Flower is how out of character students begin to act when siding with Edelgard. While some students have a good reason to betray their faction, most do not have a good reason. Lysithea canonically can be recruited to Edelgard's side without having to recruit her during the academy phase. The Ashen Wolves as a whole do not have a reason to side with Edelgard especially Balthus and Constance. Balthus would have to betray his friends and family, end up killing his best friend's little sister he grew up with and pretend everything isn't all ruined for him. Constance would not get what she wants under Edelgard's rule. Yuri sides with the strongest person but says multiple times that Edelgard is a fool showing he doesn't agree with her at all.
> 
> And then you got Hilda who will never join Edelgard because she never trusted her. Lorenz sides with Edelgard due to his family's territory bordering the Empire. But if Lorenz is able to forge a bond with Claude, then he sure as hell isn't going to side with Edelgard.
> 
> Seteth being forgiven might seem odd given that Edelgard is involved with the people who massacred his people, kidnapped Flynn and indirectly led to the death of his wife. But he's one of the Four Saints for a reason. He's not Rhea and even if he jumps to Rhea's side, he doesn't believe her in Edelgard's route showing he's willing to abandon her as long as Flynn is safe. But that can only be achieved if Byleth shows mercy towards them.
> 
> Finally you have Claude's reaction. He has dialogue with Edelgard if you bring her down 3/4th of her HP begging her to surrender. Claude really doesn't want to kill anyone despite all the shitty things that have happened. It goes against his nature.
> 
> And here are some words from Rising <3   
> \--  
> We made it folks. The end of the Three Houses arc. It's finally over. I've been building this all up for a whole year since I first started with the Fire Emblem Heroes story on January 25th, 2020. It's been fun writing Byleth, Beth, and Sothis and bringing them and the rest of the Three Houses cast to Smash. Byleth and Beth are definitely amongst my favorite characters to write. Been just a little bit experimental this year having more serious than usual in my stories. I'm still trying to do my best with more suspenseful stories. I'm still pretty average at this stuff. I really appreciate you all for sticking with me and reading my stories in 2020 (and honestly sticking around for Fire Emblem related stuff, because you know how the Smash fandom be with Fire Emblem). It does mean a lot to me, frfr.
> 
> So, what's next? Well I'm gonna be taking a much needed break. Semester has started back for me once again so that's gonna take up most of my time. But I know, what or rather who you've been waiting for me to write about. I be hearing it. I've been seeing it. Especially after a certain reveal in December, people messaged me yes. Yes, it is coming. All the building up I've been doing for the entirety of 2020, it all comes together this year in the next story.
> 
> So next time I come back to Smash, Sephiroth (My main btw) [his 4th main of the DLCS] will be making a proper introduction into the Smash Realm. Also, I can finally do my own version of World of Light. I know everyone and their mother here has been doing their versions of World of Light (shoutout to my homie Krosshair for getting it to blow up), but I guess it's just tradition now to have your own version of World of Light.
> 
> Next time, there will be...
> 
> Darkness and Despair.


End file.
